Big budget films are ruining the future of Hollywood, Jodie Foster has said as she hit out at big budget studios by comparing them to fracking.

The double Oscar-winning actress has launched a stinging critique on production houses whose top priority is to lure in as big an audience as possible, regardless of the quality of the film.

“Going to the movies has become like a theme park,” she told Radio Times magazine. “Studios making bad content in order to appeal to the masses and shareholders is like fracking - you get the best return right now but you wreck the earth.

“It’s ruining the viewing habits of the American population and then ultimately the rest of the world. I don’t want to make $200m (£150) movies about superheroes.”

Asked whether she would ever consider making a film about a superhero, she said she would consider it, but only if they had “really complex psychology”.