London, Jan 11 (IANS) Acclaimed filmmaker James Cameron has criticised Hollywood’s love affair with franchises, citing the upcoming ‘Battleship’ movie as an example of the ‘ridiculous’ lengths producers will go to score a box office hit.
Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgard and Rihanna are set to star in the big screen re-imagining of the popular board game, but ‘Avatar’ director Cameron is horrified by the idea of turning a toy into a film, reports imdb.com.
‘The Terminator’ creator insists moviemakers should be allowed to pursue more original concepts, rather than relying on old stories and well-worn ideas.
‘We have a story crisis. Now they want to make ‘Battleship’ the game into a film! This is pure desperation, because now the ‘Sequel Business’ governs Hollywood, or how we call it: the franchise,’ he said.
‘Everyone in Hollywood knows how important it is that the film before it hit theatres, is already a brand. If a brand has been around, ‘Harry Potter’ for example, or ‘Spider-Man’, you are light years ahead… And there lies the problem. Because unfortunately (these franchises are becoming more) ridiculous. Battleship. This degrades the cinema,’ he added.
