A pretty bizarre thing for him to say, for sure, but if you can get past the questionable word choices, there's a pretty good point hiding behind what he's saying.
What I got out of it is that all the really popular movies seem to be the spectacle-laden blockbusters. Why aren't thought-provoking dramas and mysteries and other cerebral fare as popular as they once were? I think the fact that he's currently in the Star Trek franchise doesn't make it worse for him to say that; it gives him a perspective that few others have. In the article, it says that he was asked to rewrite the script he'd written for the next Star Trek movie because it was "too Star Trek-y". In other words, the ratio of intelligent content to mindless action was too high. When that happens to someone who clearly loves and cares about his craft, he has the right to complain about what's popular. He's like a musician trying to get a bit proggy but being told by the label to just keep it simple and catchy so it will be more popular (that is, sell more).
For the record, I don't agree with him 100%. There are still good, intelligent films being made, and some of them achieve a certain level of popularity. But overall, he does have a point. People live their lives and deal with shit every day, and they turn to movies for escapism. They don't want "real life" shit; they want to get away from that.