Ben Affleck gave honest admission on why Hollywood is dying

Ben Affleck has admitted there's 'truth' to the idea that Hollywood is 'dead', despite the actor being involved in a number of upcoming projects himself.

For as long as we can all remember, Hollywood has been a place of wealth, success and glamour, with major stars still emerging from the neighborhood that's synonymous with the movie industry.

But more than 40 years since earning his first acting credit, Affleck addressed the idea that Hollywood might be facing its demise during an appearance on the All the Smoke podcast, when hosts Matt Barnes & Stephen Jackson asked: "What do you say to the people that say 'Hollywood is dead, it's too expensive to make movies'."

Given the millions of dollars that movies rake in every year it's hard to imagine that cash would ever be their total downfall, but Affleck actually admitted 'there is some truth to that'.

Affleck is on board as an actor and producer in future projects (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)

The 53-year-old explained: "Where I started in this business was... a bunch of very low budget like $250,000 movie or you know, a million dollar movie, which to me that seemed like a lot of money. You got to go get a million dollars from somebody, and it shouldn't be that the barrier to entry is so high.

"I think there should be...like kind of tiers where you can come in and do something that's, you know, not trying to be a very big commercial movie, trying to take some risk, trying to do some interesting stuff that still can use professional people. I would love for that to be possible."

Affleck went on to note that there are people who are 'willing' to work in the industry, but that it can cost more to do so in California in comparison to other regions that offer rebates or tax breaks for such projects.

When asked his thoughts on how much money it would take to make a movie that hits theaters, Affleck admitted it would take around $25 million - and that's only the beginning.

Hollywood has long been synonymous with success (Getty Stock Photo)

He continued: "It really varies, but like people will tell you now it's very very difficult to make a movie for less than $25 million," he said. "And it can go up very quickly as soon as you got a big stunt unit or big action stuff or visual effects."

With another $25 million going towards marketing, movies can easily mean a $50 million investment.

Affleck then explained that theaters typically make creators 50 percent of box office grosses, meaning if a movie makes $100 million, the studio gets about $50 million back.

"You got a $25 million movie, you got to gross $100 million just in simple math," Affleck said.

There's clearly still a lot of interest in the movie business, as proven by Affleck himself who is named as a producer in nine upcoming projects, according to IMDb, while also having a couple of acting roles lined up.

Still, there's no denying there's risks involved when it comes to the high cost of making new flicks.

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