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The voice of a studio head- Amy Pascal talks to The Wrap

posted by Women & Hollywood
Tuesday, July 20, 2010 at 4:16pm CDT

It’s not very often that you get to hear, really hear, a studio chief’s take on the business. Sharon Waxman, founder and editor-in-chief of The Wrap got Amy Pascal to answer some questions and talk about the state of the movies. It’s also good to hear from the highest profile woman in the business.

Her next movie is Salt starring Angelina Jolie, opening this Friday.

Read the whole interview. It’s worth it.

Here are some interesting points:

Sharon Waxman: Let’s take a step back and look at the movie landscape. Is the 13-year-old to whatever it is 24-year-old boy still your central focus in the movie industry?

AP: Well, it depends on the movie that you’re making and what you’re looking for. The opening weekend is now made up of an ethnically rich population, not just the 13-year-old boys. The Latino audience has become huge for movies as they have become a bigger part of the population. I don’t think we just rely on that 13- to 18-year-old boy as the only way to make a hit.

Could it be that we will be freed from the shackled thinking that is so focused on teen boys?

SW:… So how do you feel about this period of time?

AP: It’s super exciting and I’ll tell you why. A couple of years ago when the DVD market was more healthy than it is now, the movies got more and more expensive and we paid ourselves and each other more and more money. We spent a lot of money in marketing to sell things that we all were making. Now, I think we just have to make better films. And if we make better films, it’s going to be better for our industry and we’re going to make more money. I think that there was a false high and it was great for all of us, but I think that we all took advantage of it. We figured out how to sell things, how to make things, how to pay each other in a way that was just false. And I think we’re going to make better films now. And better is gonna work.

I really like the honesty in this answer. They do need to make better films and they need to think about other demographics. People want to have fun and enjoy themselves at the movies. They don’t want to see movies that stink. It’s that simple.

She also talked about how they are going to make all three Dragon Tattoo movies relatively fast she called them “big tentpole franchise” with the first one coming out next Christmas (2011) and that she hopes David Fincher directs all of them. They are on a worldwide search now for Lisbeth Salander and these film will be for adults. They will be rated R.

Cannot. Wait.

Amy Pascal: The Movie Theater Is Our Soul; We Just Need Better Films (The Wrap)