It’s over for big-budget sci-fi/fantasy blockbusters. At least that’s what George Lucas thinks. Convenient, since he’s done with making them now. Face it, Indiana Jones 4 will never get off the ground.

The New York Daily News caught George at a party where no doubt he’d had a few drinks and set himself up in the corner to make his pronouncements on the movie industry. Maybe he was a little pissed that Episode III got overlooked for Oscar’s technical awards too. Whatever the reason, George unbuttoned his flannel and started pronouncing doom and gloom.

“The market forces that exist today make it unrealistic to spend $200 million on a movie," he says. “Those movies can't make their money back anymore. Look at what happened with 'King Kong.” Alright, maybe it would be a good idea to scale back a bit. King Kong was a little bit bloated, not just in budget but in length too. Maybe these movies could shoot for 90 minutes and a $150 million price tag instead? Lucas says, “In the future, almost everything that gets shown in theaters will be indie movies." Well, technically Star Wars was an Indie movie, so that doesn’t necessarily preclude big budgets. But George hops even further out on that rather shaky limb: “I predict that by 2025 the average movie will cost only $15 million."

Knee-jerking much George? It’s funny, only a couple of years ago we were all proclaiming the return of the big-budget blockbuster, as movies like the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Spider-Man, and Harry Potter checked in with massive production budgets and equally massive box office receipts. Now, after a year of slight ticket-sales downturn, George is pronouncing Hollywood ready to fold up their tents and go home. Lucas thinks those gay cowboys are completely to blame: He says, “I think it's great that the major Oscar nominations have gone to independent films. Is that good for the business? No — it's bad for the business. But moviemaking isn't about business. It's about art!"

Escapist art can be pretty expensive, but George says forget about it. It’s all gay cowboy movies and racist ensemble dramas from here on out.