“There’s eventually going to be an implosion — or a big meltdown. 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,” Steven Spielberg cautioned in 2013, but he has yet to see his prophecy come true. In fact, he’s living in a time where box office receipts couldn’t be healthier, with things shaping up like they could mark the first time there’s been a $40 billion year worldwide.
However, bubbles are made to be burst, and in a new interview with Associated Press, the filmmaker stands by his prediction that the good times will only last for so long, and even more, he believes superhero movies will go the way of another Hollywood genre that at one time rode high in the saddle.
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“I still feel that way,” the director said about potential blockbuster fallout. “We were around when the Western died and there will be a time when the superhero movie goes the way of the Western. It doesn’t mean there won’t be another occasion where the Western comes back and the superhero movie someday returns. Of course, right now the superhero movie is alive and thriving. I’m only saying that these cycles have a finite time in popular culture. There will come a day when the mythological stories are supplanted by some other genre that possibly some young filmmaker is just thinking about discovering for all of us.”
And Spielberg is bang on. Audience tastes change, and the industry moves in cycles, so its not unreasonable to suggest there will be a time when Marvel won’t be the flavor everyone is chasing and something else totally unexpected comes along. However, his comments will surely meet those who disagree, and spark an interesting conversation around the current state of big-budget movies. Hit up the comments section with your thoughts.