'We're Drowning in Mediocrity': Alien Director Ridley Scott Says Modern Movies Are So Bad He's Gone Back to Watching His Own

Ridley Scott, the manager of Alien, Gladiator and Blade Runner, has slammed the existent authorities of the movie manufacture — and said the bulk of caller films are "s***."

The sheer fig of atrocious movies has go specified a problem, Scott told Yahoo News, that helium has present begun to simply rewatch his ain — including Black Hawk Down, which helium recalled seeing again precocious and being impressed by.

"Right present I'm uncovering mediocrity," the 87-year-old said of the movie industry's output. "We're drowning successful mediocrity."

"The quantity of movies that are made today, virtually globally, [there are] millions," Scott continued. "There's not thousands, there's millions, and astir of it is crap — 80-60% 'eh,' 40% is the rest, and 25% of that 40 is not bad, and 10% is beauteous good, and the apical 5% is great."

Scott went connected to suggest that the aforesaid ratio of bully and atrocious films existed backmost successful the 1940s — though backmost then, acold less movies were being made. Today, with truthful galore films releasing each year, the sheer bulk of mediocrity had ballooned.

"I deliberation a batch of films contiguous are saved, and made much costly by integer effects," helium added. "Because what they haven’t got is simply a large [script] connected insubstantial first. Get it connected paper."

While Scott inactive perseveres with immoderate caller movies and TV shows — and uses them to scout for younger talent, helium said, which is however helium recovered Gladiator 2 prima Paul Mescal aft watching the histrion successful BBC bid Normal People — helium was besides turning backmost to immoderate of his own, older enactment to enjoy.

“What I bash — and it’s a horrible happening — but I’ve started to ticker my ain movies, and really they’re truly good,” Scott admitted. “And also, they don’t property … I watched Black Hawk Down the different nighttime and I thought, ‘How the hellhole did I bash that?’ But I deliberation that occasionally there’s a bully 1 that volition happen, it’s similar a alleviation that there’s idiosyncratic retired determination who’s doing a bully movie.”

Can Scott's ain aboriginal enactment assistance extremity the balance? For now, the manager has nary plans to retire. Scott precocious wrapped filming connected The Dog Stars, an upcoming post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie starring Euphoria's Jacob Elordi. The manager has besides discussed plans to marque a 3rd Gladiator film, arsenic good arsenic a Bee Gees biopic.

Photo by Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social