Ryan Gosling On Keeping Cinemas Open

Two key talents of different generations – one a legendary filmmaker who changed the face of cinema fifty years ago, the other an actor who is currently topping the box-office charts – have offered opinions on the film industry and its future.

The talk began with Ryan Gosling who made a surprise appearance at a New York movie theatre on the opening night of “Project Hail Mary” last week. Comments he made during that appearance have now surfaced over on the film’s official social media channels.

Speaking to the packed crowd, Gosling says if the film industry wants to keep cinemas going, it’s not up to the audience to do that but rather the filmmakers and the studios making the kind of stuff that gets people out of the house and seeing films in theaters:

“Six years ago, I got the manuscript. [It’s] the most ambitious thing I’ll ever make; it seemed impossible. It was too good not to give it a shot. Six years later, we did it. Here we are, we’re all back in theatres. It’s not your job to keep them open, it’s our job to make things that make it worth you coming out. You’re about to go to another galaxy, make an alien best friend and save the stars. This movie is for you. Enjoy the trip!”

The comments come as some nearly two year old comments from “Star Wars” director George Lucas himself at Cannes back in 2024 have resurfaced and are also circling on social media again today. Speaking with Brut at the time, Lucas seemed to have a pessimistic opinion about the future of the industry:

“Nobody knows what to do. The stories they’re telling are just old movies. Let’s do a sequel. Let’s do another version of this movie. And it’s not just in movies, but in almost everything, there’s no original thinking. It’s like I saw something, let’s do something like that.”

The comments come as despite domestic box-office numbers this year charting 11% of 2025 and slightly ahead of 2024. At the same time, longer theatrical windows are making a minor comeback.

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