George Lucas interview

Via SFSignal, The Hollywood Reporter interviews George Lucas.

It's very interesting, George reiterating how he thinks the industry is heading, and also backing up Rick McCallum's views that the movies industry makes very little or no money of the cinema releases.

THR: So it's [cinema releases] basically a loss leader for DVD, television, etc.? Lucas: Yup, all of the ancillary markets. For studios, the fact is that the theatrical film market is less than 10% of their business -- it's very, very small. I mean, you could chop that off in a second, and it wouldn't even bother them -- they're just doing it as a promotional thing.

THR: Do you think the industry will survive that way?
Lucas: I don't think the theatrical exhibition business will go away because I think people will always want to go to the movies, just as they go to the opera, they go to the ballet, and they go to football games.