Martin Scorsese doubles down on Marvel critique and says cinema is being ‘invaded by theme park’ films

Renowned filmmaker refuses to back down on his criticism of the Marvel franchise

Martin Scorsese has doubled down on his comments regarding Marvel, after causing a stir when he claimed the Avengers films were “not cinema” and comparing them to a “theme park”.

The revered director made the comments to Empire magazine earlier this month. Attending a BFI London Film Festival press conference for his new film The Irishman on Sunday 13 October, he didn’t seem to have changed his mind.

“It’s not cinema. It’s something else,” he said at the conference, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “We shouldn’t be invaded by it. We need cinemas to step up and show films that are narrative films.”

Scorsese’s latest comments follow an additional critique he made the previous day, at Bafta’s David Lean Lecture.

“Theatres 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.”

The Irishman is released to UK cinemas on 1 November. It will stream on Netflix from 27 November.