Ridley Scott Blames Millennials for ‘The Last Duel’ Box Office Failure
Ridley Scott doesn’t have “one regret” about his direction or Disney’s promotion of his 2021 historical drama “The Last Duel” — the box office failure is the fault of young people and their cellphones, he says.
The director, known for commercially and critically successful films such as “Alien,” “Thelma & Louise” and “The Martian,” appeared on comedian Marc Maron’s podcast “WTF” on Monday. Among the topics discussed was “The Last Duel,” the film Scott directed from a screenplay by Nicole Holofcener, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon based on Eric Jager’s book of the same name, which only made $27 million worldwide despite carrying a $100 million budget.
“No. Disney did a fantastic promotion job,” Scott said when Maron implied the company may have been the reason for “The Last Duel’s” low performance. “The bosses loved the movie — because I was concerned it was not for them — but they really liked the movie, so their advertising, publicity, et cetera, was excellent.”
“I think what it boils down to — what we’ve got today [are] the audiences who were brought up on these fucking cell phones. The millennian do not ever want to be taught anything unless you are told it on the cell phone,” Scott continued. “This is a broad stroke, but I think we’re dealing with it right now with Facebook. There is a misdirection that has happened where it’s given the wrong kind of confidence to this latest generation, I think.”
Maron said that he thought the time period and action in the film would have been a draw for younger audiences.
“I agree with you. Particularly with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Adam Driver and this new girl called Jodie Comer. That’s the call you make. That’s the call that Fox made. We all thought it was a terrific script, and we made it,” Scott responded. “You can’t win all the time. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve never had one regret on any movie I’ve ever made. Nothing. I learned very early on to be your own critic. The only thing you should really have an opinion on is what you just did. Walk away. Make sure you’re happy. And don’t look back. That’s me.”
“The Last Duel” isn’t the only box office flop Scott blames others for.
“[In 1982], I made a film called ‘Blade Runner.’ It was my third movie. Pretty fuckin’ good,” he told Maron. “I was killed. I was killed by [film critic] Pauline Kael, who didn’t even meet me. She had never met me and I suddenly read this article in the New Yorker, which is a very classy magazine. I read it, and there’s a four page series of insults. I framed it. It’s in my office right now.”
“I never read criticism. I never read critique ever again,” Scott added, “because she was so wrong. I was just way ahead of her.”
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While I do agree with him that Millennials and Gen Zers spend too much on their phones, I think it being part of the irrelevant genre of historical epics and its topic that it covers is very sensitive and divisive among the public are the bigger reasons for its low numbers.
Are all the Xers and Boomers getting propagangdized by Facebook using their computers only? 🤔
He can’t even get the generation correct while trying to I insult them. The “latest generation” is gen z, not millenials. I’m 58. He is making us baby boomers look bad, like so many things do these days.
Maybe the reason it flopped is because younger people didn’t want to see another movie about a woman being SA’ed. Also, the time period is a time that millennials and get z aren’t interested in. They want something they can relate to, this is not it.
This idea of having to relate to something or someone in a movie is absolute nonsense. I cannot relate to 99.9% of the characters in (good) movies, because we’re not supposed to. Going to the movies is about traveling someplace else, and experiencing worlds and characters we’re unfamiliar with. If we’re going to be making movies to see and experience things we’re already familiar with, then why would I even bother buying a ticket when I can look out my own window and see it for free?
As for the time period, young people today I find have no real context or interest in history, therefore they have no interest those kind of movies, which is more the failure of the education system than anything else. I see young people today questioning whether or not World War II was real. It’s simply shocking how uneducated and uninterested they are in a film because of its time setting, and therefore write it off entirely. Watching historical films got me interested in the subject matter more, and led me into the actual factual research of the real events. It’s a sad state of affairs we live in when young people are just so self absorbed and uninterested in anything but superficial and materialistic things, and it’s killing this entire industry and art form because of it.
Thank you. I can’t stand that line of reasoning, “It’s not relatable!” It’s like we’ve become an entire society of narcissists that need to see ourselves reflected back to us.
Promote it as being based on a comic book and turn a profit. It’s sad how movies have declined for the most part, even more sad what the ticket buyers want and expect from movies today.
Inconvenient fact: older people weren’t interested in seeing this mediocre movie either
is that what it was about???? no wonder it flopped….
He’s right.
Nope.
LOL, the reason why it flopped is because no one wants to see it. Jesus, what a whiny loser.
He’s not wrong. This is what happens when young people have been raised on fast food McMovies over the past 25 years. Since the mid-90’s, it’s been a steady diet of POP, superheroes, alien invasions and CGI extravaganzas where physics don’t seem to apply, and everything looks and feels like a videogame. Don’t get me wrong, I love POP movies just a much as the next person, you’re looking at someone who grew up on Lucas, Spielberg, Cameron and Zemeckis. Think about those movies compared to the modern box office hits, those were actually well crafted films with stories and well-rounded characters compared to the majority of stuff being made today.
We used to have a balanced movie diet, some POP, dramas, horror and thrillers, a romantic comedy now and again, now it’s all just wall-to-wall big budget CGI-fests made only to sell toys. Scorsese was also right, none of these modern movies are cinema, it’s a mutated hybrid of cartoons and videogames with the sole intention of turning them into theme park rides.
Plus young people are simply not interested in anything that isn’t loud and visually stimulating that will give them a quick high for a couple of hours, then move onto the next thing. I often refer to 1996’s INDEPENDENCE DAY when the tide started to turn. Just like the aliens in that movie who suck up the planets resources and move onto the next, so are young film goers of today, as movies have become nothing but expendable and throwaway entertainment to them.
yes because prior to millenials movie goers where deeply intellectually curious. personally the biggest crock of shit in this is the idea that it’s educational, Holllywood hasn’t produced a historically accuratre movie in it’s life.
Scott needs to stop blaming everyone else for his failures. he owns his sucesses… he needs to own his failures
No one said anything about Hollywood making historically accurate movies. What I’m seeing from young people today is the sheer ignorance of basic history that when they do see a film like SCHINDLER’S LIST, they’re questioning if the kind of atrocities seen in the film were even possible during the second world war. Don’t believe me, go and watch some of those “reaction” videos from young people on YouTube. So many young people are completely clueless to the events of WW2, or how real it was. What I’m saying is that you could make films like THE DIRTY DOZEN or KELLY’S HEROES that aren’t historically accurate but entertaining that at least stayed within the context of real events. Mixing a little reality into our fantasies rather than focus solely on 100% fantasy isn’t good for us or the movies. Would you live on a diet of McDonald’s every single day? Same goes for our entertainment, which is what most people are consuming when it comes to movies these days.
I hadn’t heard of this movie before this article, and I own over a thousand Blu rays. Promotion didn’t make it to me, though I normally like his movies, the grouping together if an age group like that makes me want to less. Did he know most Facebook users are old people complaining about politics?
I will admit that when I make my first two back to the theater, I’ll probably start with something light as well. I would have waited on this one to be home just cause pandemic has made me want serious way less often.
I like most of his movies, but he sounds like a total dumbass here. The reason the movie flopped is because it just looked like an anxious fucking bummer in the previews. No one wants that right now, because we live in an anxious fucking bummer. Too tired for a movie like that. Sometimes a movie just comes out at the wrong time and no matter it’s quality it doesn’t float.
While I’ll certainly not defend the film, as I haven’t seen it myself, but it does look mediocre at best, as Ridley hasn’t made a really good film in a long time. That being said, your example that people don’t want “anxious fucking bummer movies,” I’ve been hearing that same excuse now for the past twenty years since 9/11. Yes the world is a dark, evil and scary place, and no one wants to be constantly reminded of that in our entertainment. However living on a diet strictly of superheroes and CGI cartoon characters saving the world for the past twenty years sure doesn’t give us a fresh or different perspective on things when we’re letting the heroes in tights always save the day. We need more Woodward and Bernstein driven characters in our films these days, and less Batman and Superman.
L.p. I never heard of this movie until reading this article either, when did it come out? It has one of my favorite actresses in it, Jodie Comer, I just noticed looking at a preview online after reading the article. I can’t stand Matt Damob though, he is so obnoxious.
Word of mouth wouldn’t have been great.
The film was a typical Scott effort- a big name cast, a so-so script, gloomy atmospherics (it may come as a surprise to many but summer in France is glorious, regardless of the century) and excessive use of CGI. The digital renditions of Paris and a partially-built Notre Dame were abysmal.
When Netflix and Amazon are turning out a never-ending stream of medieval potboilers, anyone who wants to lure cinemagoers with this kind of stuff really needs to be at the top of their game.
I know no one who went to see it. I’m 54z I didn’t want to see it so didn’t. No one wanted to see it. That happens sometimes. This is one of those times.
I actually wanted to see this movie, and I’m a millennial. I think the problem for me was that it didn’t stay in theaters long enough for me to see it. I’ve noticed that many movies don’t stay in theaters long enough. They come and go quickly. Also, sure, cell phones & Facebook & social media can be a contributing factor – but why wasn’t that movie advertised there? I didn’t really see any ads for it. I dunno… when I was younger movies used to play for like 3 months in theaters, now it’s like 3 weeks. In addition, if you don’t go see the movie within the first week sometimes, you can no longer see them movie in the high quality theaters. Meaning… you can no longer see it in IMAX theaters or the Dolby Atmosphere theaters, and etc. After the first week, you have to go see it in the lower quality theaters. So, by then, it’s just better to rent it and view at home. I hate seeing movies in the smaller / trashier / lower quality theaters. Scott makes a interesting point, but I don’t think it’s the only contributing factor.
I saw a lot of ads for it on cable television. I think this is where they put the bulk of their marketing. Problem is older people who watch TV, Gen X like myself and the baby boomers aren’t going to the theater as much anymore. While there are a lot of contributing factors to that, one still being the pandemic not entirely over, it’s theaters in general have become one of the reasons I go less often. People on their phones or talking throughout the movie, poor audio levels, dim projection, uncomfortable and broken seats. Going to a theater has become unpleasant and expensive. As you pointed out, movies remain in theaters for three weeks, and then they’re gone. Not sure what the solution is, I certainly don’t have one, nor would I presume to know either.
What the heck is Gen X? I’m 18 & I don’t understand all this Generation labeling junk. I think it is so dumb. We live in a time where people can pick their Gender, Hair & Eye Color, & Astological Sign, so why not their own Generation title too?
Maybe the heroes should have worn capes, masks and had lazer weapons, copying Marvel.
I liked this movie better when Kurosawa made it- and called it RASHOMON in 1950.
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I also think Ben Affleck was probably better in… anything else.
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Affleck [bleached hair and all] and Driver felt terribly contemporary and their frat-boy escapades diminished the whole project.
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Don’t blame the youngsters or their phones – they watch everything from Bridgerton to The Great to The Queen to Game of Thrones.
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The movie just didn’t work. It happens.
Well, first of all he has the wrong age group in mind. Millenials are- at youngest? Late 20s. The oldest are nearing 40.
Yeah, because Xers, Boomers, and old people are so culturally sophisticated they all sprinted to see his crappy movie. Only millennials didn’t show up. #derp
Or maybe the movie is as pompous, desperate and dumb as Ridley Scott’s take is
Lol!!
Ridley Scott should ask his marketing team how many ads they bought in online spaces versus traditional TV spots. A lot of Millennials myself included do not even own a TV, much less a cable scrip. I had no idea this movie even existed.
Though, just looking at the screenshot/name I don’t think I would have watched it. Looks like generic gloomy medieval movie #246