Hollywood legend Denzel Washington has revealed how the big studios in Hollywood are more concerned with making money off of the back of successful franchises, than they are financing new and original movies. Denzel claims that he is fine with that and he understands why they have to do business that way.
Washington explained, "Studios are now owned by big corporations, so all the decisions are made in a completely different way. The mid-majors, places like Summit, are like what studios used to be. The big studios are more interested in their big tent-pole movies and farm out the rest of it and take distribution deals... You can't rely on the studios, you have to know where to go to find it." Denzel then revealed how he and director Robert Zemeckis took a pay cut for new movie Flight.
He added, "Bob Zemeckis and I took one-tenth of our usual salary but almost 40% of the back-end - so if it hits, ker-ching. If not, we still made the movie we wanted. It's called 'showbusiness'. I don't have a problem with that. Five years ago we might have got $70 million to make it - now they're looking for Mission: Impossible 6 or Twilight 4. Studios will take the credit for smaller movies if they get Oscars but I get it, we're in tough economic times."
Denzel Washington can currently be seen in the movie Safe House, alongside Ryan Reynolds, while the Robert Zemeckis directed movie Flight is expected to be released later this year.
