Ridley Scott, the director of Alien, Gladiator and Blade Runner, has slammed the current state of the movie industry — and said the majority of new films are “s***.”
The sheer number of bad movies has become such a problem, Scott told Yahoo News, that he has now begun to simply rewatch his own — including Black Hawk Down, which he recalled seeing again recently and being impressed by.
“Right now I’m finding mediocrity,” the 87-year-old said of the movie industry’s output. “We’re drowning in mediocrity.”
“The quantity of movies that are made today, literally globally, [there are] millions,” Scott continued. “There’s not thousands, there’s millions, and most of it is shit — 80-60% ‘eh,’ 40% is the rest, and 25% of that 40 is not bad, and 10% is pretty good, and the top 5% is great.”
Scott went on to suggest that the same ratio of good and bad films existed back in the 1940s — though back then, far fewer movies were being made. Today, with so many films releasing each year, the sheer bulk of mediocrity had ballooned.
“I think a lot of films today are saved, and made more expensive by digital effects,” he added. “Because what they haven’t got is a great [script] on paper first. Get it on paper.”
While Scott still perseveres with some new movies and TV shows — and uses them to scout for younger talent, he said, which is how he found Gladiator 2 star Paul Mescal after watching the actor in BBC series Normal People — he was also turning back to some of his own, older work to enjoy.
“What I do — and it’s a horrible thing — but I’ve started to watch my own movies, and actually they’re really good,” Scott admitted. “And also, they don’t age … I watched Black Hawk Down the other night and I thought, ‘How the hell did I do that?’ But I think that occasionally there’s a good one that will happen, it’s like a relief that there’s somebody out there who’s doing a good movie.”
Can Scott’s own future work help tip the balance? For now, the director has no plans to retire. Scott recently wrapped filming on The Dog Stars, an upcoming post-apocalyptic sci-fi film starring Euphoria’s Jacob Elordi. The director has also discussed plans to make a third Gladiator film, as well as a Bee Gees biopic.
Photo by Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
