According to an article in  The Hollywood Reporter, Steven Spielberg predicts price variances at movie theaters, where “you’re gonna’ have to pay $25 for the next Iron Man, you’re probably only going to have to pay $7 to see Lincoln.”

Spielberg introduced this theory recently in a speech at the University of Southern California. He links it to an “implosion” in the film industry brought on by the flopping of a handful of big budget movies. He shared the stage with George Lucas, who says he believes that Hollywood will soon look more like Broadway, putting out fewer films that stay in theaters for longer periods of time.

This made Spielberg dig up a memory from way back in 1982 when E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial stayed on the big screen for a year and four months. Even for a well-known director such as Spielberg, who went on to fame after that hit, making movies is still an uphill battle these days. Lincoln, he says, almost ended up on HBO. He had to co-own his studio, he claims, in order to get Lincoln into theatres.

Not that Spielberg has anything against television—or video games, for that matter. He is currently working on the TV show version for the Xbox 360 game Halo.