‘State of Play’: The Film That Killed The Mid-Budget Movie in Hollywood?

Released in 2009, “State of Play” isn’t really a film that gets talked about much, and for good reason — it was a fairly middling one.

This was a $60M-budgeted film, starring Ben Affleck, Russell Crowe, and Helen Mirre, tackling journalists and their investigation into America’s military-industrial complex. Reviews weren’t amazing, and at the box office it was a dud — pulling in just $88.8M worldwide.

The film was helmed by Scottish filmmaker Kevin Macdonald (“The Last King of Scotland”), who this weekend appeared at the Edinburgh Film Festival, where he offered a brief story about the film when discussing his Hollywood movies. He says (via Deadline):

I didn’t realize at the time, but looking back, that was a pivotal film in Hollywood, as well as for me, because it was sort of the end [of an era]. Donna Langley mentioned it too when she did Desert Island Discs. It was a turning point movie for her at Universal and the rest of Hollywood because it was conceived as an all-star, intelligent thriller for adults at $100 million. Can you imagine that today? It was the tail end of a certain kind of wasteful Hollywood filmmaking.

When looking at the death of the mid-budget movie in Hollywood, maybe a good starting point might be “State of Play.” Of course, it’s a point of contention that’s been debated among critics and industry elites for years. There isn’t one single “death blow,” but if you want to point to a symbolic moment where Hollywood’s appetite for mid-budget adult dramas collapsed, a lot of people look at “State of Play” … and another film:

“Duplicity” — also released in 2009– Tony Gilroy’s slick, star-driven, $70M romantic spy caper with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen. Universal gave it a big push, but audiences stayed away ($78M worldwide gross, barely breaking even at best).

However, 2009 really feels like the turning point. That’s when the MCU started, and studios pivoting to franchises, IP, and four-quadrant blockbusters after the mid-2000s. Then the recession hit, DVD revenues collapsed, and suddenly $50–70M adult dramas were seen as unsustainable risks.