Martin Scorsese Compares Marvel Films To Amusement Parks, Says "It's Not Cinema"

Martin Scorsese has been critical of big-budget blockbusters from the likes of Marvel, and he’s recently doubled down on his sentiments. His new remarks are slightly softened, pointing out that he admires the craftsmanship. But he insists that it isn’t cinema, and that movies are skewing audience expectations of what movies should be.

“It’s not cinema, it’s something else,” Scorsese said during a press conference, via THR. “We shouldn’t be invaded by it. We need cinemas to step up and show films that are narrative films.”

The press conference was to promote his upcoming film with Robert De Niro, The Irishman. He made similar statements during BAFTA’s David Lean lecture.

“Theaters have become amusement parks,” he said. “That is all fine and good but don’t invade everything else in that sense. That is fine and good for those who enjoy that type of film and, by the way, knowing what goes into them now, I admire what they do. It’s not my kind of thing, it simply is not. It’s creating another kind of audience that thinks cinema is that.”

Marvel films, now under the Disney juggernaut that also owns Star Wars, have become reliable box office hits. It has three of the top 10 box office totals of 2019, according to Box Office Mojo. The rest of the list is largely composed of similarly big-budget Disney movies like The Lion King, Aladdin, and Toy Story 4.

The Irishman is set to hit Netflix in November. The first trailer debuted recently, and it looks to be a signature Scorsese mobster drama.