Francis Ford Coppola on ‘Barbenheimer’ success: “Victory for cinema”
With Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer continuing to dominate global box office success, Francis Ford Coppola has congratulated both filmmakers.
During a Q&A session hosted on Instagram, Coppola was asked to comment on the recent revival of the theatre experience due to the viral nature of the ‘Barbenheimer’ release. According to the iconic director, it’s a victory for all artists.
Coppola said: “I have yet to see them, but the fact that people are filling big theatres to see them and that they are neither ‘sequels’ nor ‘prequels’… no number attached to them, meaning they are true one-offs, is victory for Cinema.”
Last year, during an interview with GQ, the Apocalypse Now director insisted that the theatre experience is more important than the streaming ecosystem.
“To remind them of the thrill about going to a movie theatre,” Coppola said. “I want West Side Story to do incredible business, to remind people that the theatre debut is much more important than the so-called streaming. Streaming is just home video.”
“There used to be studio films,” he added. “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. Even the talented people — you could take Dune, made by Denis Villeneuve, an extremely talented, gifted artist…”
Watch the trailer for Oppenheimer below.
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