Steven Spielberg, BFG, and the crystal ball skull

[Charlie Rock]

So a little while ago Steven Spielberg famously predicted the end of comic book movies, Hollywood, or both:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hea...-movies-819768

While a little wobbly as a producer bouncing success like the Transformers franchise and Jurassic World he has had his share of lows with Real Steel, Cowboys & Aliens, and now BFG.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmen.../#4467192b51d6

BFG is still in theatres and could possibly redeem itself at the box office. It did get high grades from critics, but not audiences.

So what does this mean? Is BFG proof of what Spielberg said about Hollywood as a whole, or is it simply he lost his Midas Touch?

[MarvelMaster616]

Not an unreasonable question to ask. I think Spielberg has definitely seen better days in terms of sheer box office performance. But I don't think it's just about him not making good movies these days. I think it has more to do with the trends of the industry. I believe that if the BFG came out 20 years ago, it would've been right up there with Toy Story as one of the biggest movies of the summer. These days, however, movies have gone in a different direction and not just with superhero movies. I think movies in general attempt to evoke a different kind of emotion compared to what Spielberg evoked with his work. It's hard to really pin down, but I see movies like BFG and Transformers trying to appeal to an audience whose tastes just aren't the same anymore. Maybe that's just a generational thing, but I think Spielberg will keep trying. None of his latest movies, with the exception of the Crystal Skull, have been awful. So I still think there's time for his work to excel.

[ChrisIII]

Spielberg's kind of been shifting into more dramatic stuff ever since Schindler's list was a success. (Although of course had had earlier attempts such as Color Purple and Empire of the Sun). Just see all his stuff with Tom Hanks. He still does the ocassional action or family film such as his stuff with Tom Cruise and Tintin (Although the latter was co-directed by Peter Jackson).
Reportedly he's not too keen on sequels, and really only did Lost World since he didn't want the franchise to end up like what happened with JAWS (Although after TLW was poorly received critically he stepped back for the last two films). I don't think he was too pleased with Crystal Skull either, and it seemed at times that was more Lucas's thing than Spielberg's.