Edgar Wright appeared on the latest episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast and went on a reflective rant about the current state of Hollywood’s intellectual property addiction (via IndieWire). Without calling out any franchises in particular, the “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” and “Baby Driver” director expressed frustration over the lack of breathing room when it comes to studios needing to plan and date multiple franchise movies over the course of a few years. Wright didn’t name Marvel, for instance, but that studio proves his point as it released six movies in the last two years.
“One of the problems with film franchises is sometimes when they announce — I’m not mentioning any names or anything — when they announce like massive slates of films and TV shows […] there’s a danger of killing the golden goose,” Wright said. “It is a weird thing: If I could go back to when I was a young film fan, and I’ve just enjoyed a movie, and people are saying, ‘Guess what? They’ll be one every three years for the rest of your life.’ I’d be like, ‘Really?!’ That’s the thing that is sad to me, the lack of investment in new movies.”
Wright continued, “I wish some franchises would just kind of have the sense to just take a breather and let people get excited about it again. I feel like there are certain things that I loved that I don’t want to see again, or I don’t want to see them again for a long time. And again, I’m not going to bad mouth anything because it always gets interpreted as sound[bites].”
The director referenced the James Bond franchise as an exception. There are currently no 007 movies on the release calendar as Eon Productions takes it time to figure out where to take the franchise next following Daniel Craig’s last Bond movie, 2021’s “No Time to Die.” A new Bond will eventually be announced, but there’s no rush to do so.
“They’re pretty smart actually because they’re willing to kind of put a pause on things to build anticipation. They are the exception,” Wright said. “They are smart enough to put the brakes on and build anticipation so you’ll be excited for the next one. I think one of the problems now is that I wish some films and series that people would understand it’s ok to take a break and build anticipation.”
Wright added that part of the issue is how nowadays studio executives are encouraged to set years-long plans related to IP.
“That’s the thing that baffles me,” he said. “Whenever somebody comes into a studio, and they take over, you become the janitor for all the IP. So if somebody takes over Warner Bros., somebody will ask the question, ‘What are we doing with “Scooby-Doo”?‘ It’s thinking about, ‘These are the assets we have. What are we doing with “Scooby-Doo” right now?’ That’s basically what happens.”
Wright was previously in theaters back in 2021 with the releases of “Last Night in Soho” and the documentary “The Sparks Brothers.” He’s currently an executive producer on Netflix’s “Scott Pilgrim” anime revival series “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” which is now streaming.
Watch Wright’s full appearance on the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast
