Ben Affleck says $25 million is now the floor for movies

ben affleck said Hollywood has become so expensive that making movies now starts far above the old low-budget lane. On the All the Smoke podcast, he agreed there is “some truth to that” when people say Hollywood is dead.

All the Smoke Podcast

Affleck told Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson that he began in the business making films for about $250,000 or about $1 million, then said the entry point should not be so high. “Where I started in this business was... a bunch of very low budget like $250,000 movie or you know, a million dollar movie, which to me that seemed like a lot of money. You got to go get a million dollars from somebody, and it shouldn't be that the barrier to entry is so high.”

He pushed for tiers that would let filmmakers make smaller, riskier projects without chasing big commercial returns. “I think there should be...like kind of tiers where you can come in and do something that's, you know, not trying to be a very big commercial movie, trying to take some risk, trying to do some interesting stuff that still can use professional people. I would love for that to be possible.”

$25 Million Floor

Affleck said people now tell him it is “very very difficult to make a movie for less than $25 million.” That number climbs fast when a production adds a big stunt unit, big action, or visual effects, and he said another $25 million can go to marketing.

He also said theaters typically return creators 50 percent of box office grosses. In his math, a $25 million movie has to gross $100 million, which makes the old lower-budget route much harder to finance and release.

California Versus Rebates

Affleck said the cost gap gets worse in California, where working there can cost more than in regions that offer rebates or tax breaks. That leaves productions choosing between convenience and a cheaper path, and it helps explain why the business is leaning harder toward projects that can justify a larger spend.

IMDb lists Affleck as a producer on nine upcoming projects, and he also has a couple of acting roles lined up. He is still inside the system he is criticizing, which makes the argument sharper: the higher the floor rises, the fewer movies get made at the level where new filmmakers can still get in.