"Director William Friedkin on Tuesday decried a trend in cinema of infantilizing audiences with stories ripped from comic books, at the North American premiere of his new film "Killer Joe."
"It's harder and harder to do (original adult material) in this climate of American film... which is mostly concerned with movies that are comic books, and remakes," he said.
The icon of 1970s cinema said his own classic films "The French Connection" (1971), which won him an Oscar for best director, and "The Exorcist" (1973) would not be made today by movie studios.
"The audiences have changed," he lamented. "They are conditioned by television and television is aimed at the lowest common denominator... their expectations are lower."
Also, "the studios, when I started directing, were run by people who had made films," he said. "Today they're former agents or lawyers and (the studios) are owned by gigantic corporations that have to appeal to the lowest common denominator."
"There's less money in the adult market (now)," added Pulitzer prize-winning writer Tracy Letts who adapted his 1998 play for the movie. "The guys who run the show have figured out that they can make more money basically selling comic books to people."
His opinion seems to be that, comic book movies make more money than adult movies therefore Hollywood makes more of them. This is a shock to whom? Studios are in business to make money. The reason they mine comic books and do remakes is because they already have a built in audience, but I’m not telling you anything new on that. It doesn’t mean though because you have a built in audience and ripe storylines to pick from you’ll make a good movie, see the Fantastic Four films for proof of that. What bothers me about this guy is his condescending attitude about the genre as if all comic book movies are made for a bunch of simpletons. There are elements of truth in what he said of going to the lowest common denominator when you look at films like Electra or Cat woman to name a few, but The Dark Knight doesn’t make 500 million dollars because it caters to the lowest common denominator. My advice to him is to quit crying and try to make a good movie once every couple of decades and maybe just maybe you will become relevant again, or better yet pitch to Fox the reboot to the next Fantastic Four movie.