Martin Scorsese: obsession with box office takings is ‘repulsive’ | Film

Martin Scorsese has denounced what he calls the “focus on numbers” in the film world, calling it “repulsive” and “insulting”.

Speaking at the New York film festival, and in remarks reported by IndieWire, he said that “cinema is devalued, demeaned, belittled from all sides, not necessarily the business side but certainly the art”.

He added: “Since the 80s, there’s been a focus on numbers. It’s kind of repulsive. The cost of a movie is one thing. Understand that a film costs a certain amount, they expect to at least get the amount back … [But the] emphasis is now on numbers, cost, the opening weekend, how much it made in the USA, how much it made in England, how much it made in Asia, how much it made in the entire world, how many viewers it got.”

“As a film-maker, and as a person who can’t imagine life without cinema, I always find it really insulting.”

Scorsese was at the New York film festival to introduce the documentary Personality Crisis: One Night Only, a concert movie featuring former New York Dolls frontman David Johansen which Scorsese directed alongside David Tedeschi. He had warm words for the festival saying: “There are no awards here. You don’t have to compete. You just have to love cinema here.”

Scorsese’s intervention follows his remarks in 2019 during the promotion of his crime movie The Irishman, in which he compared superhero movies with theme park rides and wrote in the New York Times: “The situation at this moment is brutal and inhospitable to art. And the act of simply writing those words fills me with terrible sadness.”

Martin Scorsese has denounced what he calls the “focus on numbers” in the film world, calling it “repulsive” and “insulting”.

Speaking at the New York film festival, and in remarks reported by IndieWire, he said that “cinema is devalued, demeaned, belittled from all sides, not necessarily the business side but certainly the art”.

He added: “Since the 80s, there’s been a focus on numbers. It’s kind of repulsive. The cost of a movie is one thing. Understand that a film costs a certain amount, they expect to at least get the amount back … [But the] emphasis is now on numbers, cost, the opening weekend, how much it made in the USA, how much it made in England, how much it made in Asia, how much it made in the entire world, how many viewers it got.”

“As a film-maker, and as a person who can’t imagine life without cinema, I always find it really insulting.”

Scorsese was at the New York film festival to introduce the documentary Personality Crisis: One Night Only, a concert movie featuring former New York Dolls frontman David Johansen which Scorsese directed alongside David Tedeschi. He had warm words for the festival saying: “There are no awards here. You don’t have to compete. You just have to love cinema here.”

Scorsese’s intervention follows his remarks in 2019 during the promotion of his crime movie The Irishman, in which he compared superhero movies with theme park rides and wrote in the New York Times: “The situation at this moment is brutal and inhospitable to art. And the act of simply writing those words fills me with terrible sadness.”