Obst produced Interstellar, alongside Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas, one of 2014’s rare original hits. She says technological change and the rise of the international market are to blame for the proliferation of so-called “tentpoles” — big-budget franchise movies that generate so much revenue they can support a studio’s entire year of production. “Studio profits used to be generated by DVDs, which financed the original movies,” she explains. But DVD sales have fallen precipitously — “obliterated by new technology”, as Obst puts it — and studio profits now come increasingly from outside the US, in booming multiplex markets such as China, which is adding more than 10 screens a day. “You can’t make movies the same way internationally as you do in the US,” Obst says. “You can’t pay for television advertising in every city in the world, so you become dependent on pre-awareness of the movie.” How do studios create this pre-awareness? They make sequels — and lots of them.
Interstellar was the only movie I saw in theatres last year that truly was memorable. I haven’t seen a ‘franchise’ or sequel in theatres since Hunger Games Part 2 with Elizabeth. Looking at this year’s blockbuster releases (aka high budget), there isn’t a single movie I’ll see in a theatre this year. I’ve already stopped watching Marvel / DC movies after the last Batman was released. I can’t be alone in this one.