Ridley Scott declares Hollywood is 'drowning in mediocrity'

Ridley Scott has declared that Hollywood is "drowning in mediocrity".

The revered Alien director lamented the state of the film industry during a career retrospective talk at the BFI Southbank in London on Sunday and claimed that the majority of new films being released today are below par.

"The quantity of movies that are made today, literally globally - millions. Not thousands, millions... and most of it is s**t," the 87-year-old candidly declared, reports Metro. "80% - 60% - eh, 40% is the rest, and 25% of that 40 is not bad, and 10% is pretty good, and the top 5% is great.

"I'm not sure about the proportion of what I've just said, but in the 1940s, when there were maybe 300 films a year made, 70% of them were similar."

The Blade Runner filmmaker shared that audiences are "drowning in mediocrity" with new films so he's started re-watching his own movies because he thinks they're better than today's offerings.

"Well, actually, right now, I'm finding mediocrity - we're drowning in mediocrity. And so what I do - it's a horrible thing - but I've started watching my own movies, and actually they're pretty good! And also, they don't age," he said. "I watched Black Hawk (Down) the other night and I thought, 'How in the hell did I manage to do that?'"

Acknowledging that there are still some impressive films being made today, Scott added, "I think occasionally a good one will happen, (and) it's like a relief that there's somebody out there who's doing a good movie."

Released in 2001, Black Hawk Down followed the crew of a Black Hawk helicopter that was shot down during the Battle of Mogadishu. The war film starred Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana, Tom Hardy and Orlando Bloom.

Scott's upcoming projects include The Dog Stars, starring Jacob Elordi, and the Bee Gees biopic You Should Be Dancing.