Since 2008, Marvel has largely been dominant at the box office. But the franchise has been on the receiving end of criticism by some of Hollywood's greatest filmmakers.
Francis Ford Coppola is the latest icon to voice his views. Speaking to GQ, Coppola clearly isn't the biggest fan of the comic book juggernaut.
Francis Ford Coppola Slams Marvel Movies, Calling Them Repetitive "Prototypes"
The Godfather creator comments highlight the evolution of Hollywood blockbusters, particularly Marvel movies by deeming them repetitive:
There used to be studio films. Now there are Marvel pictures. And what is a Marvel picture? A Marvel picture is one prototype movie that is made over and over and over and over and over again to look different.
Coppola even calls out No Time to Die and even the recent Oscar-nominated, Dune, stating how they look somewhat similar to each other.
Even the talented people—you could take Dune, made by Denis Villeneuve, an extremely talented, gifted artist, and you could take No Time to Die, directed by…Gary?
The Apocalypse Now filmmaker asserts that scenes from each picture can be compiled together and would still flow:
You could take both those movies, and you and I could go and pull the same sequence out of both of them and put them together. The same sequence where the cars all crash into each other. They all have that stuff in it, and they almost have to have it, if they’re going to justify their budget. And that’s the good films, and the talented filmmakers.
Coppola's views seem to reflect Martin Scorsese's opinions from a couple of years ago. The Goodfellas director initially called Marvel films "theme parks" and took the internet by storm.
Coppola is making a return to blockbuster filmmaking, by self-funding a $120 million project. Megalopolis is an ambitious, globe-trotting love story that starts filming soon:
It's a love story that is also a philosophical investigation of the nature of man; it's set in New York, but a New York steeped in echoes of ancient Rome.
Meanwhile, Disney is prepping its next MCU project with Moon Knight set to premiere in March. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the next film to hit cinemas and will kickstart 2022's summer.