Martin Scorsese “slams” today’s movies: Hollywood, a money-making machine

Director Martin Scorsese has criticised Hollywood for the superficial way it looks at filmmaking today – strictly in terms of revenue, not necessarily quality.

Scorsese began his career with the films Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, are held up as examples at film schools. He is also known for numerous gangster films that audiences still love, such as Goodfellas, Casino, The Departed and The Irishman.

To date, Scorsese has had nine films nominated for Academy Awards. Unfortunately, to the dismay of many, he has only won Best Director once for The Departed.

What Martin Scorsese said about today’s Hollywood movies

In a speech at the New York Film Festival, Martin Scorsese talked about how Hollywood’s dependence on the box office is affecting cinema.

“Since the 1980s, the emphasis has been on numbers. It’s downright repulsive. The cost of a film is a thing. You understand that a film costs a certain amount of money, and they expect to get at least that amount back. The focus now is on numbers, cost, opening weekend, how much it made in the US, how much it made in England, how much it made in Asia, how much it made worldwide, how many viewers it had. As a filmmaker and as someone who can’t imagine life without cinema, I always find that really offensive. I’ve always known that such considerations have no place at the New York Film Festival, and here’s the key: There are no awards here. You don’t have to compete. You just have to love cinema and that’s it,” Scorsese said.

The truth is, Scorsese may be right. The films that generally make the most money at the box office are seen as a success even when they’re not that good. For example, 2016’s Suicide Squad holds a 26% score on Rotten Tomatoes, but earned over $746 million worldwide, likely based on marketing done by the book.

Powerful words on the state of cinema by Martin Scorsese at his and @thenyff‘s 60th! #nyff60 @FilmLinc pic.twitter.com/T37HcNMQDl

– Ellen Houlihan (@elliehoulie) October 13, 2022