If anyone is interested just how ego-centric the man is (and to see how issues between him and WDI could be hindered by it), he's been making the rounds the last few days offering backhanded compliments about other people's films and how his are better. (Also, his obsession with money is on full display in the "pushing" Titanic over $2 billion comment.)
On The Avengers:
“They got close. They didn’t break the $2 billion-dollar barrier, there’s only two in the club. But you know, come on, let’s go guys. Look, I want Hollywood to be as successful and vibrant as it always has. Hopefully a movie will come along next year and show everyone what’s possible because that just benefits us all. On the other hand, if that shouldn’t happen for another ten years that would be good too. … It’s kind of a no-lose situation. We managed to push Titanic right over the $2 billion mark with the re-release, so I’m happy about that.”
"I thought it was a real crowd-pleaser, lots of fun [and] funny, funnier than [I expected]. I thought leavening it was important because ‘Titanic’ is not exactly a laugh riot."
On Jurassic Park and how he was beaten to the rights by a few hours:
" But when I saw the film, I realised that I was not the right person to make the film, [Spielberg] was. Because he made a dinosaur movie for kids, and mine would have been 'Aliens' with dinosaurs, and that wouldn’t have been fair.
“Dinosaurs are for 8-year-olds. We can all enjoy it, too, but kids get dinosaurs and they should not have been excluded for that. His sensibility was right for that film, I’d have gone further, nastier, much nastier.”