Steven Soderbergh Issues A Warning to Hollywood After 'Black Bag'
Steven Soderbergh is one of those directors who sends me immediately to theaters to watch his stuff. The guy is so intense and so interesting. I love that he never really retired and is still making movies. His most recent movie, Black Bag, was an absolute blast. It was a tight spy thriller that had an all-star cast and got rave reviews. But it also didn't do well at the box office. It only brought in a little over $38M worldwide, and there's really no explanation as to why. It was put on VOD very quickly, and it didn't have a huge marketing push, but a movie like that with its reviews is expected to do more. That left Soderbergh wondering. - YouTube www.youtube.com Soderbergh's Hollywood Warning In a new interview with Business Insider, Soderbergh said of the experience, “It’s not fun to spend a lot of time and effort on something that just occupies zero cultural real estate.” He continued. “That’s not why any filmmaker wants to make movies. You want as many people to see them as possible. I’ve really got to think deeply about what kind of material I can find that I’m excited by and has the potential to draw a bigger audience than the last two movies.” Before Black Bag, Soderbergh also made a ghost movie called Presence, which was an indie that I deeply enjoyed, but which also didn't break out. The director behind the original Oceans trilogy and Traffik is definitely used ot making bigger hits. He went on to say, “The people we needed to come out didn’t come out. And unfortunately, it’s impossible to really know why.” He's right. We can theorize all we want, but without talking to every single person to see why they didn't come out to the box office, we'll never truly know. And as an artist, that can drive you up a wall. Especially if that material resonated with you. This all led Soderbergh to worry about Hollywood in general. He said, “My concern is that the rest of the industry looks at that result and just goes, ‘This is why we don’t make movies in that budget range for that audience because they don’t show up.” He continued, “And that’s unfortunate, because that’s the kind of movie I’ve made my whole career. That middle ground, which we all don’t want to admit is disappearing, seems to be really disappearing.” I am right there with Soderbergh. When you use these mid-budget movies made for adults, you want them to do well, so Hollywood is incentivized to make them. These are mature stories, about marriage and about life that have a green spin. They're the kinds of movies that used to be a staple of the industry. And unfortunately, when one fails, it feels like all of them suffer. It wouldn't be so devastating if it weren't a decision that eliminated like an entire pillar of movies that I love watching, and that I love writing. But it does, and those used to be the movies that a lot of people broke in with and that they were allowed to cut their teeth on before they got to work in blockbusters. Aside from that, those were the movies that made people into stars. If we lose them...I'm not sure how any of that happens. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Steven Soderbergh is one of those directors who sends me immediately to theaters to watch his stuff. The guy is so intense and so interesting. I love that he never really retired and is still making movies.
His most recent movie, Black Bag, was an absolute blast. It was a tight spy thriller that had an all-star cast and got rave reviews.
But it also didn't do well at the box office. It only brought in a little over $38M worldwide, and there's really no explanation as to why. It was put on VOD very quickly, and it didn't have a huge marketing push, but a movie like that with its reviews is expected to do more.
That left Soderbergh wondering.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
Soderbergh's Hollywood Warning
In a new interview with Business Insider, Soderbergh said of the experience, “It’s not fun to spend a lot of time and effort on something that just occupies zero cultural real estate.”
He continued. “That’s not why any filmmaker wants to make movies. You want as many people to see them as possible. I’ve really got to think deeply about what kind of material I can find that I’m excited by and has the potential to draw a bigger audience than the last two movies.”
Before Black Bag, Soderbergh also made a ghost movie called Presence, which was an indie that I deeply enjoyed, but which also didn't break out.
The director behind the original Oceans trilogy and Traffik is definitely used ot making bigger hits.
He went on to say, “The people we needed to come out didn’t come out. And unfortunately, it’s impossible to really know why.”
He's right. We can theorize all we want, but without talking to every single person to see why they didn't come out to the box office, we'll never truly know. And as an artist, that can drive you up a wall. Especially if that material resonated with you.
This all led Soderbergh to worry about Hollywood in general. He said, “My concern is that the rest of the industry looks at that result and just goes, ‘This is why we don’t make movies in that budget range for that audience because they don’t show up.”
He continued, “And that’s unfortunate, because that’s the kind of movie I’ve made my whole career. That middle ground, which we all don’t want to admit is disappearing, seems to be really disappearing.”
I am right there with Soderbergh. When you use these mid-budget movies made for adults, you want them to do well, so Hollywood is incentivized to make them. These are mature stories, about marriage and about life that have a green spin. They're the kinds of movies that used to be a staple of the industry.
And unfortunately, when one fails, it feels like all of them suffer.
It wouldn't be so devastating if it weren't a decision that eliminated like an entire pillar of movies that I love watching, and that I love writing. But it does, and those used to be the movies that a lot of people broke in with and that they were allowed to cut their teeth on before they got to work in blockbusters.
Aside from that, those were the movies that made people into stars.
If we lose them...I'm not sure how any of that happens.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
