Scorsese Speaks on Barbenheimer Phenomenon

To Martin Scorsese, Barbenheimer was peak cinema.

Speaking recently to the Hindustan Times, the legendary director offered his thoughts on 2023’s blockbuster double bill, saying “I do think that the combination of Oppenheimer and Barbie was something special. It seemed to be, I hate that word, but the perfect storm. It came about at the right time. And the most important thing is that people went to watch these in a theater. And I think that's wonderful.”

With the streaming services ever threatening to eat into ticket sales, Scorsese champions those films that get people into theatres. And few got them there like Oppenheimer and Barbie. The former grossed $939,176,815 worldwide to date, while the latter made $1,437,509,238.

“You couldn't have more opposite films to work together," says Scorsese. "It does offer some hope for a different cinema to emerge, different from what's been happening in the last 20 years, aside from the great work being done in independent cinema.”

Although he admits he’s not seen either film. “I haven't seen the films yet. I love Chris Nolan's work. Margot Robbie, I must say, started with me from The Wolf of Wall Street. Rodrigo Prieto (cinematographer), after finishing Killers of the Flower Moon, went on to shoot Barbie. So it's all in the family.”

With Scorsese's upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon hitting cinemas in just over a week, he gets a pass for missing out on Barbenheimer. It sounds like he’s been busy. Watch the final trailer for Killers of the Flower Moon.