Martin Scorsese Rails Against Box Office Obsession: It’s ‘Repulsive’ and ‘Really Insulting’

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.

Let’s celebrate the heydays of this autumn’s box office where we can, the season greatly hampered by a lack of tentpole product.

Broadway box office held steady last week, with impressive attendance for recent arrivals Almost Famous and Kimberly Akimbo, and Leopoldstadt again setting a house record at the Longacre with receipts of $1,158,051.

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.

“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.

Independent projections predicted a $50 million opening weekend for the Universal and Blumhouse picture, on par with that of “Halloween Kills.” The 2021 sequel scored $4.9 million at its Thursday box office debut. In 2018, “Halloween” made $7.7 million on its first night and went on to earn an eye-popping $77.5 million from its opening weekend – the second highest of any rated-R horror movie at the time.Set four years after the events of “Halloween Kills,” “Halloween Ends” presents the last showdown between Laurie Strode (Curtis) and longtime nemesis Michael Myers.

Universal’s release of Blumhouse, Miramax and Trancas’ Halloween Ends saw a Thursday night of $5.4M from 3,200 theaters. Showtimes began at 5PM. That figure is +11% from last year’s Halloween Kills‘ previews which were $4.85M.

Jordan Moreau “Halloween Ends” is just beginning — the final installment in the long-lived horror franchise picked up $5.4 million at the box office in Thursday night previews. The film should hack and slash its way to $50 million to $55 million in its opening weekend, according to projections, even with a same-day release on Peacock. Last year’s “Halloween Kills” opened to $49 million at the box office and had the same Peacock release strategy, so an even bigger launch would be bloody good for the Universal film. Jamie Lee Curtis’ PTSD-riddled survivor Laurie Strode faces off against psycho killer Michael Myers once again for the 13th entry in the franchise, and “Halloween Ends” promises to be the very last showdown between the two foes — at least, until another reboot comes knocking at the door. The “Halloween” timeline is as full of holes as one of Michael’s victims, but the latest movie caps off a trilogy of modern-day sequels that began with 2018’s “Halloween” and its 2021 sequel “Halloween Kills.” The three movies follow the events of John Carpenter’s original 1978 horror, which introduced audiences to Curtis in her film debut and the soon-to-be slasher icon Michael Myers. There have been a handful of other “Halloween” sequels and two rebooted films directed by Rob Zombie, but the new trilogy retcons those and catches up with Laurie and her family 40 years later.

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.

Martin Scorsese was at the New York Film Festival last night to introduce his new documentary with David Tedeschi, “Personality Crisis: One Night Only,” about the legendary proto-punk band The New York Dolls. Scorsese in his hometown at NYFF? That’s awesome enough.

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.

$49.4 million last year and finished with a $92 million domestic total, and pre-release projections for “Ends” have it matching that opening mark with a $50 million opening. By contrast, the first installment in this “Halloween” revival in 2018 opened to $76 million on the way to a $159 million domestic total and $255 million worldwide, buoyed before its release by strong reviews from critics praising Jamie Lee Curtis’ return to her debut role, Laurie Strode, that expanded interest beyond the series’ most devoted fans. “Kills,” on the other hand, got much poorer reviews, with critics slamming the sequel for sidelining Laurie in the hospital instead of having her take the murderous Michael Myers head-on like she did in the first film.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Laurie Strode is going out with a bang. “Halloween Ends,” the supposed finale to Universal’s long-running slasher series (are we ever going to be able to quit Michael Myers?) is targeting a healthy $50 million to $55 million in its opening weekend even with its hybrid release on Peacock. If those estimates hold, it’ll be the first movie since “Thor: Love and Thunder” in July to open to at least $50 million. “Halloween Ends” is the rare day-and-date release with a proper point of comparison since its predecessor also launched on streaming during the pandemic. “Halloween Kills” opened to $49 million last October while landing simultaneously on the NBCUniversal-owned Peacock — a bloody-good result given the COVID-era limitations in 2021. “Halloween Ends,” which is playing in 3,800 North American theaters, has the added benefit of monopolizing the entire Imax and premium large format footprint.

Colm Bairéad’s The Quiet Girl, which is Ireland’s entry in the Best International Film Oscar race this year, has punched through the €1m ($971,000) box office ceiling in a record-breaking performance for an Irish-language feature.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter After two years of upheaval and unfamiliarity at the box office, there’s something refreshingly familiar about the theatrical release of “Tár.” The acclaimed movie, directed by Todd Fields and starring Cate Blanchett as a world-famous conductor embroiled in a controversy of her own making, generated a stellar $160,000 from four theaters (two in New York City and two in Los Angeles) over the weekend, averaging a mighty $40,000 per location. Next weekend, it’s expanding its theater count (ever so slightly), to 30 new venues in 10 domestic markets. That kind of steady and deliberately paced rollout, one that relies almost entirely on positive word-of-mouth, is about as traditional as it gets for an arthouse film. Yet for most of the pandemic, it was rendered obsolete.

Universal/Working Title’s Ticket to Paradise, the latest big-screen collaboration for Julia Roberts and George Clooney, has led the duo to a new milestone. Five films in which the mega-stars worked together have now grossed a combined $1B at the global box office. 

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.