Roger Ebert is also a fortune teller, at least he was in 1987!

Whether you agree or disagree with Roger Ebert's reviews you can clearly say that he knows a ton about film from the past and present. Back in 1987 he also seemed to know what the future held for film as well. In an interview with Omni Magazine Ebert was asked about how fierce the competition between television and movies would be in the future. His response was surprisingly spot on accurate.

OMNI: How will the fierce competition between television and the movies work out in the future?

EBERT: We will have high-definition, wide-screen television sets and a push-button dialing system to order the movie you want at the time you want it. You’ll not go to a video store but instead order a movie on demand and then pay for it. Videocassette tapes as we know them now will be obsolete both for showing prerecorded movies and for recording movies. People will record films on 8mm and will play them back using laser-disk/CD technology.

I also am very, very excited by the fact that before long, alternative films will penetrate the entire country. Today seventy-five percent of the gross from a typical art film in America comes from as few as six –six– different theaters in six different cities. Ninety percent of the American motion-picture marketplace never shows art films. With this revolution in delivery and distribution, anyone, in any size town or hamlet, will see the movies he or she wants to see. It will be the same as it’s always been with books. You can be a hermit and still read any author you choose.

Despite being wrong about 8mm, his other commentary was eerily accurate. Ebert also said this:

By the year 2000 or so, a motion picture will cost as much money as it now costs to publish a book or make a phonograph album.

This is also true.  At the time of this intervew in 1987, you needed a film camera and expensive films or a very large camcorder that recorded in a horribly low quality videotape. You can make a movie for practically nothing now with the right technology. I watched Gareth Edwards' Monsters last night, which is a prime example of making a film being made for next to nothing yet having amazing results.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for film. What are your thoughts on this news?