Despicable Minions Could Implode The Movie Industry, Says Spielberg, Lucas
The Despicable Minions beat The Lone Ranger at the box office, but Americans choosing one movie over another in such dramatic fashion could potentially upset the whole apple cart.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, the Despicable Minions will be featured in their own movie next year in 2014.
While The Lone Ranger bombed at the box office Despicable Me 2 set records. Sure, many Americans can probably choose to see multiple movies in the same time frame, but it’s popularity mood swings like this that have Steven Spielberg and George Lucas fretting about the future of the entire movie industry.
The difference lies in the cost and the risk associated with making such films. Animating those Despicable Minions cost about $76 million while The Lone Ranger came with a $215 million price tag, down from the originally requested $275 million. While the Despicable Minions are busy making Dreamworks hundreds of millions it’s estimated The Lone Ranger could lead to a $150 million net loss for Disney. Last year, Disney similarly lost a lot of money with SciFi summer flick John Carter.
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas pose the question: what if a movie studio were to release blockbuster movies like The Lone Ranger and John Carter at the same time? Both believe that if moviegoers were to choose Despicable Minions over such “tentpole” movies like The Lone Ranger that an entire company could crumble in a year:
”There’s going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen megabudget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that’s going to change the paradigm.”
A similar thing happened to directors in 1980. A movie called Heaven’s Gate went way over budget yet performed so poorly it shut down United Artists.
Are you surprised that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are predicting the simple choice of choosing movies like the Despicable Minions over blockbusters could lead to a movie industry implosion?
