What makes a movie good? Better yet, what makes it successful? Is it based on office numbers or streaming views? What attracts a viewer to the theater or to press play? Even Steven Soderbergh isn’t quite sure, but he does have one idea on what filmmakers need to do…

Appearing at the Toronto International Film Festival, Steven Soderbergh stated, “It’s gotten more difficult to quantify what is bringing people to a specific film, and what makes a specific film a hit…At the end of the day, the only solve is good shit. You got to make good shit. You’ve got to focus on that.” Adding to this, Soderbegh said that star power almost always has to be a factor. “For movies to work, they need movie stars. It’s great if the story is big enough to pull people in on its own, but that’s hard, and increasingly harder to do.”

Right now, Soderbergh has horror movie Presence creeping closer to release (read our review here). However, it is relying far less on stars than its hook, showing his confidence in the story, which comes from David Koepp. Let’s face it, most people won’t be checking it out because of Lucy Liu but because Soderbergh is toying with the genre – and in a clever way, no less, as Presence is shot in a first-person perspective).

Steven Soderbergh has been in the game for over 35 years, coming in at a crucial time in American cinema, with his sex, lies and videotape reinvigorating the value of independent cinema and giving it a fresh place in Hollywood. That a film would premiere at Sundance and then go on to win the Palme d’Or was mind-blowing (just ask Spike Lee!). Soderbergh has seen the movies evolve dramatically ever since. And while he has plenty of opinions on the state of the industry, he has also learned to adapt as well. We are all familiar with his perceived “one for them, one for me” model, but it’s also great to see that he can bounce between releasing his films theatrically and on streaming services depending on the work. So if this isn’t a guy who can figure out what makes a hit, then who is?

What pulls you more into seeing a movie: the stars or the story? Or is there a combination?

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