Kings of A&R

The film industry obsesses over first week numbers and if the film isn’t an instant cash cow, they will bury it. Sound familiar?

The double Oscar-winner Dustin Hoffman has made an angry attack on the “euthanasia� of the film industry, which he complains tries to “bury� any film that is not an instant cash cow.

“If the film doesn’t make money over that first weekend of its release, they will bury it,� said Hoffman

“Euthanasia is legal in Hollywood. They just kill the film if it doesn’t succeed immediately.�

Hoffman criticised the film industry for being obsessed with looking almost hourly at the box-office takings of a film in its first few days of release, meaning poor quality but populist films could push out higher-quality productions

“If the movie doesn’t make money it must therefore be a bad work,� said Hoffman, who won best actor Oscars for Kramer vs Kramer and Rain Man. “I don’t remember a time when there was so much respect for bad work.�

Hoffman was encouraged by the more recent success of some American films. “You cannot stop the artists.�

For Hoffman, “the most exciting film I’ve seen this year� is the small-budget Little Miss Sunshine, which tells the story of a dysfunctional family driving across America

Key Quote:  “I don’t remember a time when there was so much respect for bad work.â€? So it’s not only in the music industry that bad art is respected and rewarded. Has it always been this way? no way. The problem isn’t with the old films it’s with the “new” films. The problem isn’t with the old music, it’s with the ‘new’ music. Both the film and the music industry is struggling to re-invent itself. It’s not the technology, its the lack of inspiration. As Sting said, “Today’s rock music is a bore”.