Scorsese Doesn’t Go To Cinemas Anymore

Martin Scorsese occupies a strange space in the debate over theatrical release windows and streaming. On the one hand he’s a master of the cinematic form and the kind of filmmaker who champions movies and cinemagoing.

On the other hand, his last few films have been primarily for streaming – Netflix with “The Irishman” and Apple with “Killers of the Flower Moon”. The latter did get a full theatrical release, but one that was seen as a disappointment for the money spent, even as critically the film fared very well.

In a recent interview with legendary film critic Peter Travers for his new blog The Travers Take (via World of Reel), he surprisingly revealed no longer watches movies in cinemas. When asked why, his response was pretty clear. Here’s the key excerpt:

“I asked the maestro why he doesn’t see movies in theaters anymore and he went all raging bull about audiences who babble on phones during the movie, leave to order snacks and vats of soda, and keep up a noise level loud enough to drown out the actors. ‘Come on, Marty,’ I said, ‘we couldn’t keep our mouths shut when we were kids.’ His eyes darkened. ‘Yeah, maybe,’ he conceded, ‘but when we talked it was always about the movie and the fun we had chewing over the details.'”

These days Scorsese has his own screening room which he’s called a vital part of his life and has allowed him to revisit films as well as check out new films, sometimes singing their praises like he did for last year’s “I Saw the TV Glow” and “Nosferatu”.

Rude or inconsiderate audiences and bad theater etiquette is often cited as a major reason that people avoid cinemas these days, along with much improved home theater set ups, quicker jumps to streaming, shorter attention spans, prices, busy lifestyles, the cost of living crisis and a lot of other distractions from high quality TV, gaming, social media and YouTube.

Scorsese has been recently developing a Hawaiian-set crime movie for 20th Century Studios, which will star Leonardo DiCaprio, Dwayne Johnson, and Emily Blunt.

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