Martin Scorsese Explains Why Comic Book and Franchise Movies Aren't Cinema

In 2019, Martin Scorsese made headlines when he said Marvel movies are "not cinema" and compared the Marvel Cinematic Universe to theme parks. "I don't see them. I tried, you know? But that's not cinema," the legendary director told Empire magazine during an interview for his gangster epic The Irishman. "Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn't the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being."

The Godfather filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola defended Scorsese's criticisms, while a slew of Marvel Studios alums — including The Avengers director Joss Whedon, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, and actors Chadwick Boseman, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, and Robert Downey Jr. — spoke out against Scorsese's commentary.

With Scorsese promoting his epic western crime saga Killers of the Flower Moon, the Goodfellas and Oscar-winning Departed director was asked about the current state of the filmmaking industry in a GQ UK profile. Scorsese remarked that the theatrical picture and movie theaters aren't dying — "I think there will always be theatrical, because people want to experience this thing together," he said, "but at the same time, the theaters have to step up to make them places where people will want to go and enjoy themselves or want to go and see something that moves them" — to which the writer suggested that "if Hollywood makes nothing but comic book and franchise movies, and certain segments of the audience don't want to see those films, then nothing is going to get them to a cinema." Acknowledging that Scorsese's past critique of Marvel movies "attracted a lot of vitriol" online, the GQ UK piece noted that the filmmaker did not single out Marvel and comic book movies.

"The danger there is what it's doing to our culture," Scorsese said of the franchise films that tend to take up movie theater screens. "Because there are going to be generations now that think movies are only those – that's what movies are. [Audiences] already think that. Which means that we have to then fight back stronger. And it's got to come from the grassroots level. It's gotta come from the filmmakers themselves." Scorsese referenced Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan and Uncut Gems filmmakers the Safdie brothers, who create the opposite of what the 80-year-old filmmaker dismissed as "manufactured content."

"Hit [moviegoers] from all sides. Hit 'em from all sides, and don't give up. Let's see what you got. Go out there and do it. Go reinvent. Don't complain about it. But it's true, because we've got to save cinema," Scorsese said. "I do think that the manufactured content isn't really cinema."

Scorsese marveled at the technical aspects of "content" filmmaking but circled back to his original point of contention: that comic book fare "isn't the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being."

"No, I don't want to say it," Scorsese said of his cinematic criticisms. " But what I mean is that, it's manufactured content. It's almost like AI making a film. And that doesn't mean that you don't have incredible directors and special effects people doing beautiful artwork. But what does it mean? What do these films – what will it give you? Aside from a kind of consummation of something and then eliminating it from your mind, your whole body, you know? So what is it giving you?"

Killers of the Flower Moon opens exclusively in theaters October 20th.