James Murdoch, the CEO of media conglomerate 21st Century Fox has criticised his own film studio for its “failure” and that “fundamentally, we have to make better movies”.
Murdoch was speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference and, in remarks quoted by the Hollywood Reporter, he addressed the difficulties faced by his film division, 20th Century Fox, after a series of poor box-office performances, including Ice Age: Collision Course and Independence Day: Resurgence.
Murdoch told the conference: “I acknowledge that failure is where we are,” but pointed out that Fox had “avoided, which some other studios have not ... massive losses”.
He added: “Fundamentally, we have to make better movies, we have to do it more consistently.”
According to Deadline, Murdoch also talked up forthcoming entries in Fox’s franchises Avatar, Wolverine and Planet of the Apes. “I feel better creatively today than I have for a while.”
Perhaps more significantly for the film business as a whole, Murdoch pledged to continue to try and break down the window of exclusivity enjoyed by cinemas. ““We have to think about these crazy hold-backs that theatre owners put in place — these blackout periods ... We have to think about, and do something about, windowing.”
