Kevin Feige -- President of Marvel Studios and recently-appointed Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment -- has broken his silence regarding the disparaging remarks made by Martin Scorsese, in which the esteemed director declared Marvel films were "not cinema."
"I think that's not true," Feige said on an episode of The Hollywood Reporter's Always Chatter podcast. "I think it's unfortunate. I think myself and everyone that works on these moves loves cinema, loves movies, loves going to the movies, love to watch a communal experience in a movie theater full of people... I think it's fun for us to take our success and use it to take risks and go in different places.
"Everybody has a different definition of cinema," he continued. "Everybody has a different definition of art. Everybody has a different definition of risk. Some people don't think it's cinema. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. Everyone is entitled to repeat that opinion. Everyone is entitled to write op-eds about that opinion. And I look forward to what will happen next. But in the meantime, we're going to keep making movies."
Following Scorsese's original comments -- in which he compared Marvel Studios' films to theme parks, rather than actual cinema -- numerous people associated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (as well as others) have chimed in on the matter. Scorsese later doubled down on his stance, with Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola evidently sharing the sentiment. Scorsese eventually walked back his comments slightly, before further elaborating on them in a New York Times op-ed, which Feige references.
Scorsese's criticisms are obviously diametrically opposed to Feige's thoughts on the matter, given that he has been the architect of the MCU since its beginning in 2008, producing all of the franchise's 23 films. What's more, Feige's name has been associated with big screen adaptations of Marvel comic books for even longer than that, going back to when he was an associate producer on 2000's X-Men.
Up next for the MCU is Black Widow, which is scheduled to hit theaters on May 1, 2020. Other confirmed upcoming films include Eternals, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Panther II, Blade, an untitled sequel to Captain Marvel, an untitled sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home and an untitled sequel to Ant-Man and the Wasp. Following Disney's acquisition of 20th Century Fox, signs also points to Marvel Studios producing its own films based on such properties as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and Deadpool.
Marvel Studios is also set to have a strong presence on the Disney+ streaming service, producing such big-budget television series as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Loki, What If...?, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight and She-Hulk.
(via ComicBook.com)