E Unit

I'm not going to argue this.

http://www.movieline.com/2011/11/uni...-wo.php?page=2

Universal studio president: "We make a lot of shitty movies"
by Sean O'Neal November 3, 2011

There’s a certain kind of candor that comes from a place of comfortable indifference, whether you’re a Disney executive secure that any blowback will be cushioned by a huge pile of money, or you’re just Mickey Rourke and what of it? But while he's certainly earned the right to blow off some steam after such a long tenure, Universal chief Ron Meyer’s recent speech at the Savannah Film Festival took on a slightly more pained, confessional edge as he recounted the myriad high-profile flops the studio had endured over the past few years, suggesting even he can’t believe some of the stuff they put out. “We make a lot of shitty movies,” Meyer said, “and every one of them breaks my heart.” While swearing that they always “set out to make good ones”—and reserving praise for films like United 93, A Beautiful Mind, and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World (while also lamenting that they didn’t make enough money)—Meyer then engaged in some very public, very honest self-flagellation for what he felt were Universal’s shittiest shitty movies. And as you might expect, it was pretty awesome. Like this:

One of the worst movies we ever made was Wolfman… It’s one of those movies, the moment I saw it I thought, ‘What have we all done here?’ That movie was crappy. We all went wrong. It was one of those things… Like I said, we make a lot of bad movies. That’s one we should have smelled out a long time ago. It was wrong. The script never got right… [The cast] was awful. The director was wrong. Benicio [del Toro] stunk. It all stunk… Wolfman and Babe 2 are two of the shittiest movies we put out.

Land Of The Lost was just crap. I mean, there was no excuse for it. The best intentions all went wrong… Cowboys & Aliens wasn’t good enough. 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…

Cowboys & Aliens didn’t deserve better. Land of the Lost didn’t deserve better… Cowboys & Aliens was a big loss, and Land of the Lost was a huge loss. We misfired. We were wrong. 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. It happens. They’re talented people. Certainly you couldn’t have more talented people involved in Cowboys & Aliens, but it took, you know, ten smart and talented people to come up with a mediocre movie. It just happens.

Giantrobo

Cue Movie Net Nerds and their "agree 100%" posts...
Cue....NOTHING CHANGING OVER AT UNIVERSAL....

Solid Snake

damn. That kind of takes balls..but he's the president of Universal...so..I guess he'd have to have balls. Now if only Disney could admit that.

I actually like Wolfman, the extended cut that is.

mattysemo247

Wow, I didn't think Wolfman was THAT bad. I know it lost money and all, but I thought it was an entertaining way to spend 2 hrs. Haven't seen Cowboys & Aliens yet, but I do agree about Land of the Lost.

RichC2

I liked Land of the Lost but they obviously sunk way too much money in it, it was a niche film (geek raunch?) that somehow wound up with a $100m budget. Hated Wolfman and didn't see C&A.

I'm glad he's still sticking behind his guns on Scott Pilgrim, Universal came out as highly supportive of the movie and were proud of how it turned it out. I agree with them.

islandclaws

Wolfman was infinitely better than both Cowboys & Aliens and Land of the Lost, and it's only a decent movie. He's right, they do make plenty of shitty movies. Question now is whether or not he'll actually do anything about it.

spainlinx0

I love Scott Pilgrim.

Matthew Chmiel

Babe: Pig in the City one of the shittiest films you put out?

Huh, funny, critics actually disagree with that comment.

Dr Mabuse

Wasn't there a thread here about a similar 'admission' by a studio head a ways back?

wahlers

Wow. Sure he's being honest, but he sounds like kind of a prick.

Haven't seen the other films, but I liked Wolfman. It was paced very similarly to the original film and was moody and atmospheric like it. I suppose they would have rather had some shitty-ass Rob Zombie torture porn remake or something.

CloverClover

Babe 2 is amazing, one of the most original sequels ever. Why is he even bringing up a movie nearly 15 yrs old?

other than that he's right

clckworang

I don't disagree with the fact that Universal has made some shitty movies, but any studio would be lucky if the two shittiest movies it released was Babe: Pig in the City and The Wolfman.

Rypro 525

they were actually the ones supposed to release his first movie House of 1000 Corpses, but due to rating issues, Universal dropped it and it went to Lions Gate in its current R rated form

Numanoid

Dear OP: Bolding -- you're doing it wrong.


And Babe - Pig In The City is an awesome movie. Just because it flopped doesn't make it a shitty movie.



P.S. I thought we couldn't have profanity in thread titles.

E Unit

Dear Numanoid, not really caring about that. And Mods, if profanity isn't allowed on the thread titles, my apologies, please remove. And if there's bolding etiquette, I'd be interested I know.

Mr. Cinema

Their catalog BDs aren't too spectacular either.

I'm surprised he didn't mention Evan Almighty, which was a colossal disaster and probably cost a few people their jobs.

Mr. Cinema

Agreed. Wolfman has PLENTY of flaws, but at least it has high production value and a few good scenes. The other 2 films I could barely sit through once. I own Wolfman and have watched it a few times now.

Battleship has a chance to be another huge expensive gamble from Universal that doesn't pay off.

anomynous

At least somebody is finally admitting Cowboys & Aliens sucks

The Valeyard

Wolfman - Terrible
Land of the Lost - Horrible
Scott Pilgrim - AMAZING! One of the best movies I've seen in a long time.
Cowboys & Aliens - Haven't seen yet but am hopeful it's good.

Numanoid

Just giving you a poke in the ribs. It's an old Other forum joke that a long post "Needs bolding!" so that we lazy people only have to read the important parts.


The profanity thing is true, though. At least it used to be.

majorjoe23

Usually you bold key points in the article so that if someone is skimming it they can read those and get the gist. If you bold the whole thing what's the point of holding at all?

PopcornTreeCt

When I think of Universal I think Back to the Future, Jaws and E.T. They need to lure Spielberg back and give him free reign.

I will say I love Universal's comedies. I think the rotating cast of Paul Rudd, Rashida Jones, Elizabeth Banks, Jason Segal, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill and occasionally Russell Brand is really good. They should be cranking those movies out every 3 months.

E Unit

Eh, no worries. Chaps me more the Universal president says all this stuff yet is still the president. I guess this is the obligatory "Nothing changes at Universal" scream.

Can't agree with you there completely Popcorn, I'm quite tired of seeing the Jason Segal/Paul Rudd shit flying at us. Sometimes less is more for me. Of course, those movies still trump, say Scorpion King 3.There's zero reason why they should keep shelling that garbage out. I guess they make enough money from those straight to DVD sales.

Dragon Tattoo

...or, you know, a good movie.

Wolfman was terrible. It was dreck. I love all the apologists in this thread, though.

And people, you don't need to mention how amazing you think Scott Pilgrim is. If you read the article, you'll note that it's clearly NOT one of the movies they're talking about. Scott Pilgrim did well critically. It was just a financial disaster. But so was Blade Runner. Time will prove Scott Pilgrim's worth.

CloverClover

Seems all these CEOs want to be like Steve Jobs, being 'bold' and 'visionary' but unless this guy actually makes changes he is just tryin to save his own skin and be badass.