J. J. Abrams Quotes

Mainstream success is important - that's probably anathema to an indie publication like Pitchfork, but it's what I believe having experienced it personally.

If the script is right, I'm not above doing a movie with broad appeal.

I want to make something commercial that people can pick up on.

I was always flattered, but I just want my movies to make money. I want to be commercial. I'm never the person who says, "I don't care if people don't see my movies." I always want people to see my movies.

There's no point in really making something if it doesn't appeal to a lot of people or the masses or if it's not seen by a lot of people.

There is always one or a few artists who appeal to all sort of people, and, of course, I want to be one of those people.

It's a strange thing, this idea that for some reason, if a lot of people like what you're doing, it's therefore not very good. We use the phrase that a band have 'sold out.' Just so you know, if you're doing a gig and you sell all your tickets, that is a brilliant thing to do.

The rule in the art world is: you cater to the masses or you kowtow to the elite; you can't have both.

The concept of commercialism in the fashion and art world is looked down upon. You know, just to think, 'What amount of creativity does it take to make something that masses of people like?' And, 'How does creativity apply across the board?'

I'll put it to you like this: You can only go as mainstream as people will let you go.

I don't want to become an ivory tower filmmaker. That sounds peculiar, but I want to be a mainstream filmmaker. I want the largest possible audience that I can find - but, of course, on my terms.

Singles are your safest songs on the records. Ones that piss fewer people off, that appeal more to the masses.

The bandleader is a musician trying to sell a mass commodity; and in order to do so successfully he must accommodate himself to mass standards. Unless he can do this comfortably, sooner or later he is sunk.

Never hate a song that's sold a half million copies.

I honestly think I could sit down and write a show tonight that the critics would love, and I know it would be canceled within four weeks. I know what the critics love. We write and produce for people, not for critics.

I'm just not interested in selling out to get on the charts and make people happy.

You know you've built a product that can hit the mainstream when your wife, your father, and your mother-in-law can get involved.

I don't see me doing $100 million films because $100 million films, the very nature of them, you need to offend as few people as possible just to make your money back.

I don't want to be an art-house movie guy, where people who go to film school can discuss your work, but people who haven't studied cinema can't appreciate it. By the same token, I don't want to be the guy who's making this commercial pap that people lap up but that disappears the minute you leave the theater.

For some critics we might be uncool on account of our popularity.

If it's accessible by hundreds of millions of people, then it's as mainstream as it gets.

I'm not a snob... there's room for entertainment that reaches a lot of people and can be really good, but you don't just have to be one kind of actor.

The only way you can continue to make artistic films is to make an occasional one of those. They kind of keep your marketability going to the extent that people will employ you.

There's something strange about theater. My characters consistently demonize elitism, but of course it's taking place in a theater where only so many people can see it. I've been in silly popcorn movies - the kind of thing that as an actor you might feel embarrassed about - but those movies reach many more people.

The show I did in England catered to a broad range of people. I like that. I don't want nouveau cult status, though I know we've got that sort of audience in the states.