Francis Ford Coppola Praises the Success of ‘Barbenheimer’: Singular Movies Represent a Triumph for Cinema

During a recent Q&A session on his Instagram story, celebrated filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola acknowledged that he hasn’t seen “Barbie” or “Oppenheimer” yet. 

Nevertheless, he wholeheartedly praised the box office triumph of both films, considering them a resounding “victory for Cinema” — emphasizing the significance with a capital “C.”

“I haven’t seen them yet, but the fact that audiences are flocking to big theaters to watch these movies, and the fact that they are not ‘sequels’ or ‘prequels’ with numbers attached to them, but true one-off creations, is a victory for Cinema,” he responded.

“Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” managed to turn a doll and the atomic bomb, respectively, into box office sensations, making it the fourth-largest weekend in box office history with a combined earning of over $200 million during their simultaneous opening frames. The films remain strong this weekend, securing the top two slots on the domestic charts.

Despite being the director of a film trilogy, Coppola has been vocal about his reservations regarding the industry’s proliferation of sequels and prequels. In 2019, he supported Martin Scorsese’s controversial remarks about Marvel films, expressing that those entries in the cinematic universe were not “real cinema.”

“Martin was being kind when he said it wasn’t cinema,” Coppola remarked during a press conference. “In my opinion, it’s despicable.”

Reflecting on the state of movies, he further elaborated in an interview with GQ, “There used to be studio films, but now we have Marvel pictures. What is a Marvel picture? It’s a single prototype movie churned out repeatedly, attempting to appear different each time.”

However, the success of July’s blockbuster duo has eased Coppola’s concerns about the future of cinema.

In another Instagram query, a user asked Coppola about his predictions for the state of movies in the next ten years. In response, the director expressed his optimism: “My hunch is that we’re on the verge of a golden age that will wonderfully illuminate cinema, especially on the grand screens of large theaters.”

As Coppola delves back into filmmaking himself, he eagerly anticipates the readiness of movie theaters to welcome his upcoming passion project, “Megalopolis,” led by the talented actor Adam Driver, which is slated to debut next year.

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