Director James Gunn Shares His Thoughts On The Current State Of The Film Industry
Image Source: IMDb
The film industry has gone through a fair few changes in recent years, for better or for worse. The performance of movie theaters post-pandemic is improving, but not quite to the numbers of the past. Streaming platforms have become incredibly popular, opening up a new revenue source so long as people stay subscribed. In an interview with Rolling Stone, filmmaker James Gunn spoke about his perspective on the state of the industry and why some projects struggle at different stages.
Gunn explained why he thinks the industry itself is failing to a degree, “I do believe that the reason why the movie industry is dying is not because of people not wanting to see movies. It’s not because of home screens getting so good. The number-one reason is that people are making movies without a finished screenplay.” The film's blueprint is incomplete, making it significantly harder to produce a quality product.
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Image Source: IMDb
Gunn stated that they “just killed a project” at DC for an incomplete script. He continued, “Everybody wanted to make the movie. It was greenlit, ready to go. The screenplay wasn’t ready. And I couldn’t do a movie where the screenplay’s not good.” On the ones that make it through, Gunn expressed, “So we have these scripts that we’ve been really lucky with or wise in our choices or whatever the combination is.” Good content comes with a solid foundation, and a completed script contributes to that foundation.
The filmmaker worked with Marvel Studios to create the Guardians of the Galaxy films. He had some insight on the studio’s practices and its mandate to up the amount of content released: “That wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. And it killed them. We don’t have the mandate [at DC] to have a certain amount of movies and TV shows every year. So we’re going to put out everything that we think is of the highest quality…hopefully on average everything will be as high-quality as possible. Nothing goes before there’s a screenplay that I personally am happy with.”
Gunn’s most recent project for DC is the upcoming film Superman (2025). The film hits theaters on July 11, 2025. It follows a younger Clark Kent as he settles into his identity and “reconcile[s] his alien Kryptonian heritage with his human upbringing.” It will be the first film installment of Chapter One: Gods and Monsters of the DCU.
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Source(s): Rolling Stone, Variety, IMDb
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