Ridley Scott, a highly influential filmmaker in contemporary Hollywood, continues to be granted substantial budgets by various studios for his projects. Despite his prolific career highlighted by classics like Blade Runner, Scott has expressed disappointment with the overall quality of current film production. In a recent interview, he stated that the sheer volume of movies being produced worldwide, numbering in the millions, is overwhelmingly subpar.
These candid remarks were made during a career retrospective held at the BFI Southbank in London, as Deadline detailed. Scott, whose 2024 film Gladiator II reportedly included a digitally enhanced scene of a sea battle with sharks inside a colosseum, criticized the over-reliance on digital effects to salvage weak scripts.
When asked about his go-to movies for comfort, Scott humorously admitted to enjoying his own work.
I watched Alien with his commentary last night and every other scene he said something along the lines of “damn that’s good” or “it hasn’t aged at all” and I just nodded in agreement every time. https://t.co/iYnYyBpZaj
— Barto (@bartonovopolis) October 6, 2025
“Frankly, right now, we’re being overwhelmed by mediocrity,” he confessed. “So, I’ve started watching my own films, which might sound arrogant, but they’re actually pretty good! And the interesting thing is, they’ve stood the test of time.”
He elaborated, “I recently watched Black Hawk Down and was amazed at how I pulled it off. I think occasionally, a truly excellent film emerges, offering a sense of relief that someone out there is creating quality work.”
It remains unclear if Scott specified which recent films he considers to be among those “good ones.” His historical epic Napoleon from 2023 set a high bar. Scott’s next project, the post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller The Dog Stars, is scheduled for release in March 2026.