Ben Affleck is no stranger to starring in both big and small films, but in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor and director spoke about where he sees the future of movie theaters going.
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“You know, I won’t hedge, because that’s always boring. I will say, when The Way Back came out, it was released the week they closed the theaters [for the pandemic],” Affleck said when asked about his latest film, The Way Back, not doing well in theaters, but being a streaming success. “But even before then I knew this movie about grief and a child dying and alcoholism and recovery is just not going to get adults in the seats. We were just talking about Narcos: Mexico, Succession, Mare of Easttown. There’s these amazing things being done on streamers. Roma! It’s not just some formulaic TV procedural like when we were kids. And you could only watch it like my dad, on an 11-inch black-and-white TV.”
Affleck went on to touch on the fact that he believes sooner than later, movies in theaters will be reserved almost for more expensive, event-based films.
“If I had to bet, a drama like Argo would not be made theatrically now,” Affleck said. “That wasn’t that long ago. It would be a limited series. I think movies in theaters are going to become more expensive, event-ized. They’re mostly going to be for younger people, and mostly about ‘Hey, I’m so into the Marvel Universe, I can’t wait to see what happens next.’ And there’ll be 40 movies a year theatrically, probably, all IP, sequel, animated.”
The comments seem to echo that of filmmaker Ridley Scott, who said last month that he believes his latest film, The Last Duel, didn’t perform well in the box office due to apathetic moviegoers and audience members who “do not ever want to be taught anything.” Affleck also touched on The Last Duel‘s lack of success, noting that it was a bit eye-opening for him because of how poorly it did despite being so well-received by critics and audience members.
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“The Last Duel really clinched it for me. I’ve had bad movies that didn’t work and I didn’t blink. I know why people didn’t go — because they weren’t good. But I liked what we did. I like what we had to say. I’m really proud of it. So I was really confused. And then to see that it did well on streaming, I thought, ‘Well, there you go. That’s where the audience is.'”
