Martin Scorsese thinks the obsession with box office numbers is repulsive and insulting to film

Last Updated on October 20, 2022

Martin Scorsese is a name that almost always comes up in discussions of great directors. It’s natural everyone wants to pick his brain about film, and it seems that when he gives his blunt opinion, sometimes it’s controversial, like his comments on Marvel movies. Even those who disagree with him are quick to show respect before their criticism. And fans like Guillermo Del Toro are ride or die for him. Kind of literally, as he tweeted he’d give his life to extend Scorsese’s in defense of the director.

IndieWire reports on a night Scorsese spoke at the New York Film Festival and stated his disgust over the business side of showbiz taking precedence over the artistic aspect. He specifically pointed out the obsession over numbers and box office figures,

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, plus, again. The emphasis is now on numbers, cost, the opening weekend, how much it made in the U.S.A., 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 filmmaker, and as a person who can’t imagine life without cinema, I always find it really insulting. I’ve always known that such considerations have no place at the New York Film Festival, and here’s the key also with this: There are no awards here. You don’t have to compete. You just have to love cinema here.”

He says when the numbers and the money at the box office becomes the primary focus, “cinema is devalued, demeaned, belittled from all sides, not necessarily the business side but certainly the art.”

Scorsese will have a new film out next year on AppleTV+ called Killers of the Flower Moon starring Leonardo DiCaprio.