Anyone who's visited the cinema more than once in the past few years will know that there's an awful lot of bad movies out there.
Ever walk out of a film and wonder how it got greenlit and who on earth actually thought it was good enough to unleash on the cinemagoing public?
Well, meet Ron Meyer. The President and COO of Universal Pictures hasn't been having the best time of it. Like any studio head, he's released some turkeys but in recent years, he's had more than his fair share.
At the Savannah Film Festival, he decided to offer up a frank dissection of Universal's recent(ish) output, admitting that they "make a lot of sh***y movies".
Here's what he said about certain films:
Cowboys & Aliens: "Forget all the smart people involved in it, it wasn’t good enough. All those little creatures bouncing around were crappy. I think it was a mediocre movie, and we all did a mediocre job with it."
The Wolfman: “One of the worst movies we ever made was Wolfman. The script never got right… the director was wrong. Benicio stunk. It all stunk.”
Land of the Lost: “It was just crap. I mean, there was no excuse for it. We did it badly, and I think we’re all guilty of it. I have to take first responsibility because I’m part of it, but we all did a mediocre job and we paid the price for it.”
Babe 2: Pig In The City: "Babe 2 is one of the shittiest movies we put out."
His candidness was pretty impressive but also spoken from a position of safety. He's been at Universal for 16 years.
Yet despite his hatred for The Wolfman, a sequel is currently in production. Lessons learnt: nil.
[via Movieline]
(Images: Rex Features)
