George Lucas Predicts Death of Big Budget Movies

H_Fisher writes "Before the red carpet had cooled at last night's Academy Awards, George Lucas told the New York Daily News that big-budget movies will soon be history. From the article: "'The market forces that exist today make it unrealistic to spend $200 million on a movie,' said Lucas, a near-billionaire from his feverishly franchised outer-space epics. 'Those movies can't make their money back anymore. Look at what happened with King Kong.'" Lucas' prediction: "In the future, almost everything that gets shown in theaters will be indie movies ... I predict that by 2025 the average movie will cost only $15 million.""

I predict...

[Anonymous Coward]

...the death of big George Lucas movies. Aw, shoot. Already happened.

Translation of George Lucas' Statement:

[Hosiah]

"I'm out of Star Wars ideas."

I have a prediction....

[Thedeviluno]

The next instalment of Star Wars will not depend on big budget special effects; it will draw crowds and rave reviews with a powerful story brought to life by excellent direction and acting.

Re:As much as we like to criticize him

[slughead]

He may end up being right. Gambling with so much money on movies may no longer be worth it. On the other hand, with less money needed, they may end up making better movies.

Dramas and science fiction are not necessarily "better."

My favorite genre is action, if someone's not saying "I AM the law" or blowing something up periodically, I want my money/time/bandwidth back.

I wont even stay in the room/theater to watch dramas. In order to get me to watch titanic, my girlfriend had to splice in scenes from the Rambo series every 3 minutes.

Remember that part where Leonardo DiCaprio explodes and his guts fly everywhere? That was rad.

Re:Star Wars rules... but Lucas is a moron

[Tim C]

Just about everything is a remake of something that's already been made.

As opposed to being a remake of something that hasn't been made before?

What??

[Anonymous Coward]

King Kong was the best movie I've seen in years.

Re:$15 Million

[mikesmind]

No, they must be off-shoring movie production and special effects.

Indy?

[Anonymous Coward]

In the future, almost everything that gets shown in theaters will be indie movies ...

Shit Lucas is planning on releasing innumerable CG redos of Indiana Jones too! Next thing you know that dude with the twirling swords will throw a knife at Indy before Indy shoots him.

When Howard the Duck Flies Out of My Ass

[sjonke]

n/t

Re:Translation of George Lucas' Statement:

[laffer1]

Sadly he's had a script and actors ready to make Indiana Jones 4 for some time but won't do it. It sounds like he doesn't think it will make money. Being an even number it may be awful, but I'd like to see one last big budget indy film :)

Re:George Lucas is wrong

[The Ultimate Fartkno]

Hush, you. Stay out of here with your "facts." We're freeing artists from the hands of their media conglomerate slavemasters and working to deliver their art directly to the hands of the people who want it most - the people who have come to the long-awaited conclusion that everything sucks and nothing's worth paying for! Now let us get back to work...

I HAVEN'T OWNED A TELEVISION SINCE 1967 AND ONLY WATCH MOVIES ABOUT LEFT-HANDED ALEUT LESBIAN PIPEWELDERS! FUCK HOLLYWOOD!

Re:George Lucas is wrong

[RobotRunAmok]

I can't wait to see what powers come to the artists willing to give up control of their work once it leaves their hands.

I'm hoping for invisibility and x-ray vision.

George

[tprime]

This has to be correct because Lucas has been spot-on lately when it comes to understanding what the public wants...

Re:George Lucas is wrong

[I Like Pudding]

Wait, you're actually arguing the point? Everyboy already knows that nothing Lucas writes or says can survive 2 neurons worth of deconstruction. I've even come up with a term for this phenomenon: Reductio ad Jar Jar. This is when you commit a single act so offensively stupid that to even agree with any of your ideas is to be negated. Effectively, your credibility has jumped the shark.

Lucas: Well, I think what we need to do here is blah blah blah excrement blah
Lucas' Aide: That's a great idea, sir
Lucas' Aide, internal monologue: JAR JAR FUCKING BINKS!
Lucas: Yes, I know. Furthur, blah blah Howard Duck blah blah
Lucas' Aide: Great, I'll take this to the ILM team
--
ILM Team: Yes?
Lucas' Aide: Here's the latest from George: blah blah Howard Duck blah
ILM Team: JAR JAR FUCKING BINKS!
Lucas' Aide: ...what did you just say?
ILM Team: Er, nothing.

See also: Howard Dean

Re: Well, yeah..

[Black Parrot]

> This is lucas we are talking about. The same man who made Revenge of the Sith. He has no business making movies any more, and less making predictions.

But he's a recognized expert on the topic of killing movies.

Re:George Lucas is wrong

[mgblst]

He must be talking about posting to his own journal.

Re:George Lucas is wrong

[xs650]

Would the average american want to watch a black and white movie, where you can see the strings, and there's only 6 actors, and the director/producer/editor/cameraman/lighting tech/lead actor is all the same person?

Sounds like porn flicks, except you have too many actors and they're color because color doesn't cost extra anymore.

Re:Star Wars rules... but Lucas is a moron

[TheEternalVortex]

I believe the term you are looking for is "premake".

Re:George Lucas is wrong

[bugg]

73% of all statistics are made up.

What's more troubling is that 4 out of 3 people don't understand statistics.

Re:Mod parent up

[Anonymous Coward]

"Film is just another medium for telling a story. If the story is bad, the film will fail. Breasts, explosions, breasts, fire, breasts, CG, breasts, and breasts can make it vaguely entertaining,

you have an interesting storyline there.. care to make a movie? I would finance.

-MPAA

Re:George Lucas is wrong

[I Like Pudding]

Jar jar was the best character in the movies.

See? There it is! Right there! That's the point where I stopped caring what you think; Reductio ad Jar Jar.

Obligatory South park reference

[4D6963]

"In the future, almost everything that gets shown in theaters will be indie movies"

As Eric Cartman would say, nothing but hippie movies about gay cowboys eating pudding.