Martin Scorsese Laments The Film Industry’s “Repulsive” Obsession With Box Office Numbers At The NYFF Premiere Of His New Doc

If you aren’t listening to Brian Koppelman’s excellent podcast, The Moment, let this be the reminder that you need to do that. A screenwriter, director, and current writer/showrunner, co-creator, and executive producer of Showtime’s “Billions” and the anthology show “Super Pumped,” which focuses on ‘The Battle For Uber’ in season one with his partner David Levien.

“Till” is sixth on the box office charts after expanding to 2,058 theaters, grossing just $2.8 million for a per-theater average of $1,366 and a running total of $3.6 million. The good news for Chinonye Chukwu’s true-story drama about the murder of Emmett Till is that critical and audience praise has been overwhelming, with a 98% Rotten Tomatoes score and an A+ on CinemaScore.

Add James Cameron to the list of elite filmmakers taking umbrage with today’s superhero films.

Naman Ramachandran Sony’s “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile,” the film adaptation of the children’s books by Bernard Waber, featuring a singing crocodile, bowed at the U.K. and Ireland box office with £2.7 million ($3.1 million), according to numbers released by Comscore. Universal’s “Halloween Ends,” the final instalment in the horror trilogy of sequels to the original 1978 film, starring Jamie Lee Curtis, debuted in second place with £2.1 million. Another horror, Paramount’s “Smile,” collected £1.4 million in third position in its third weekend for a total of £7.2 million. In fourth place, in its fourth weekend, Universal’s “Ticket to Paradise,” starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney, took £617,041 for a total of £7.7 million.

Personality Crisis: One Night Only, directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi, is a documentary that follows punk pioneer David Johansen, which premiered at NYFF60. The film follows Johansen, who, during his residency in New York City in 2020, gave a detailed account of his life, how he navigated the music scene from the 1970s up to the present day, and why music is integral to his existence. 

Martin Scorsese is reportedly working on a new Gangs Of New York television series.According to Deadline, the director will serve as an executive producer for the latest adaptation of Herbert Asbury’s 1927 novel.Reports suggest that Scorsese will also direct the first two episodes of the Miramax  Television-developed series.Scorsese has previously directed a film of the book in 2002 starring Leonardo Di Caprio as Amsterdam Vallon and Daniel Day-Lewis as local villain Bill ‘The Butcher’ Cutting. It was nominated for ten Oscars.The script for the new series will be written by Brett Keonard (Shantaram) and is said to focus on a different story to that presented in Scorsese’s feature film.Talk of a different Gangs Of New York series first emerged in 2013, to which Scorsese was also attached. Scorsese said of that in a statement at the time: “This time and era of America’s history and heritage is rich with characters and stories that we could not fully explore in a two-hour film.

The Halloween Ends numbers are coming in, and the studio might not be so pleased.

“Halloween Ends” is only just beginning.The slasher film cut its way to first place at the box office on Friday, earning more than $20 million in theaters.The sequel to last year’s “Halloween Kills” is predicted to take in $43.4 million on its opening weekend, according to Variety.“Smile” was bumped from the top spot this week, moving down a notch to second, after spending two weeks at number one.The flick surpassed earnings of $100 million at the global box office in less than two weeks, as per Collider.The live-action/CGI musical comedy “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile” swam down to third place, clawing in $2 million. The movie adaption of the popular children’s book series enjoyed a $11.5 million domestic debut on its opening weekend, according to Deadline.“The Woman King” held up her crown, remaining in fourth, with a $1 million-dollar take.

Twenty years ago, Martin Scorsese and Miramax released “Gangs Of New York” to solid acclaim and box-office numbers. Most critics thought it fell short of Scorsese’s most triumphant works but praised the film’s densely realized sets and costume design.

Martin Scorsese gave a long shout-out to the NYFF and the art of cinema on stage at Avery Fisher Hall as the fest celebrated its 60th anniversary with the world premiere of his latest documentary, Personality Crisis: One Night Only. It followed a screening of Armageddon Time, another New York story by native New Yorker James Gray.

Zack Sharf Martin Scorsese railed against box office numbers during a recent appearance at the New York Film Festival (via IndieWire). The Oscar-winning filmmaker called the industry’s obsession with box office grosses both “repulsive” and “really insulting.” Scorsese praised the festival for championing filmmaking at a time when “cinema is devalued, demeaned, belittled from all sides, not necessarily the business side but certainly the art.” “Since the ’80s, there’s been a focus on numbers. It’s kind of repulsive,” Scorsese said. “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… 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.”

First, a confession: I came to “Personality Crisis: One Night Only,” knowing next to nothing about the New York Dolls or its lead singer, David Johansen. Sure I’d heard of them and heard a fair amount of the Dolls’ music, and Johansen’s, and that of his alter ego Buster Poindexter (including the once-ubiquitous “Hot Hot Hot,” which he now calls “the bane of my existence”).  For this viewer— and, for I suspect, a fair number of others — the draw of “Personality Crisis” is Martin Scorsese, who co-directs with his frequent collaborator David Tedeschi.

fellow filmmaker and best director winner Martin Scorsese who was ripped in The Critic for “lazily” making mob movies and other projects that are “routinely an hour too long.”Putting it rather bluntly, del Toro Tweeted “If God offered to shorten my life to lengthen Scorsese’s- I’d take the deal.” “This man understands Cinema. Defends Cinema. Embodies Cinema.

After years of being one of the most in-demand actresses on the planet, Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence got married, had a child, and took a long break from acting that lasted nearly two years. While she already appeared in Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Back,” last year, that was a supporting role that she didn’t do a full-court press for.

Over a decade ago, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way partnered to bring “Devil In The White City,” the true story of America’s first serial killer, Dr. H.

The Devil In The White City, according to sources.The Matrix star was first attached to the role back in January of this year, with Hulu’s upcoming take on Erik Larson’s 2003 book set to mark his first major US TV role.The big-budget adaption of The Devil In The White City has been through various stages of development since Leonardo DiCaprio bought the film rights to the book back in 2010. DiCaprio now serves as an executive producer on the project alongside Scorsese, with the adaptation previously set up as a feature at Paramount.According to Variety, Reeves will now no longer participate in the series, and representatives for both the actor and Hulu declined to comment thus far.