Universal exec apologizes, admits Cowboys & Aliens, Wolfman sucked

It has not been an easy few years for Universal. While they’ve had some nice successes (DESPICABLE ME, BRIDESMAIDS and FAST FIVE among them), there have been way too many high-profile disappointments. From THE WOLFMAN to LAND OF THE LOST to COWBOYS & ALIENS to YOUR HIGHNESS, Universal has sunk a lot of money into movies that just didn’t perform. When asked about his studio’s performance, President of Universal Studios, Ron Meyer explained it succinctly. “We make a lot of shitty movies.”

Meyer spoke at the Savannah Film Festival in a brutally honest speech, opening up about Universal’s recent and frequent disappointments.

COWBOYS & ALIENS? “Wasn’t good enough. Forget all the smart people involved in it, it wasn’t good enough. All those little creatures bouncing around were crappy. I think it was a mediocre movie.”

LAND OF THE LOST? “Just crap. I mean, there was no excuse for it.”

THE WOLFMAN?? “One of the worst movies we ever made…WOLFMAN and BABE 2 are two of the shittiest movies we put out. The script never got right…the director was wrong. Benicio [del Toro] stunk. It all stunk.”

Tell us how you really feel, Ron… But seriously, this is exactly what needed to be said. Some people probably won’t like hearing it (perhaps Joe Johnston and Jon Favreau) but we, as audience members and movie fans, need to hear an admission of guilt. I may not have my $10 back, but I feel better knowing that they have failed. If they can admit to us some of their movies are crap, maybe that’s enough for them, behind office doors, to admit to themselves what they’re doing is crap and make some changes.

Meyer admitted they had done some things right with projects like UNITED 93 and SCOTT PILGRIM, two movies he was proud of. He didn’t mention, however, BATTLESHIP, a movie due next summer that already has the air of another expensive disappointment.