‘Avengers’ Director Joe Russo Touts Box Office Over Oscars in Playful Jab at Martin Scorsese; Film Community Sounds Off: ‘Rich A–hole Hack’

Avengers filmmaker Joe Russo has caused quite a stir on social media for posting a response to a recent TikTok featuring Martin Scorsese. The Oscar winners daughter, Francesca, posted a TikTok this month in which Scorsese playfully directs his dog, Oscar. Russo responded by posting a video in which he tells Scorsese they share the same muse. The camera pans out to reveal Russo is holding his own dog, whom he jokingly calls Box Office.

Aw look, hes got a schnauzer! I love schnauzers. And his name is Oscar. Thats really cute, Russo says in his video replying to the Scorsese TikTok. Russo then addresses his own dog: Ok come on, Box Office.

Russos video is clearly trying to be playful, but it has rubbed many film writers and industry professionals the wrong way, as it seemingly finds Russo jabbing at Scorsese after Scorsese infamously spoke out against Marvel movies several years ago. Scorsese criticized Marvel for putting a stronghold on film exhibition and forcing mid-budget movies and more adult-oriented fare out of the mainstream marketplace.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Russo Brothers (@therussobrothers)

I dont see them. I tried, you know? But thats not cinema, Scorsese told Empire about Marvel movies back in October 2019 while promoting The Irishman. Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isnt the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.

Scorsese later published an op-ed essayin The New York Times in which he wrote that cinema is about revelation, aesthetic, characters the complexity of people and their contradictory and sometimes paradoxical natures, the way they can hurt one another and love one another and suddenly come face to face with themselves. That is all absent in Marvel movies, he wrote, adding that while many of the elements that define cinema as I know it are there in Marvel pictures, ultimately whats not there is revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger. Nothing is at risk. The pictures are made to satisfy a specific set of demands, and they are designed as variations on a finite number of themes.

Russo playfully flaunting his box office wins over Scorseses Academy Award comes at a time when Scorsese isnt necessarily lighting the box office on fire with his latest release, Killers of the Flower Moon. The $200 million Western epic earned critical acclaim but has only grossed $40 million at the domestic box office so far. The films worldwide gross stands at $84 million and counting. Many box office pundits are wondering if the film can even make it to the $150 million worldwide mark.

Many industry professionals came to Scorseses defense on X/Twitter after Russos video started going viral online.

Joe Russo took hundreds of millions from Netflix to make whatever he wanted, and came up withThe Grey Man,' wrote Toonami co-founder and Warner Bros. Discoverys SVP of action and anime series Jason DeMarco. Marty got hundreds of millions from Netflix and Apple, and made The Irishman and Killers of The Flower Moon. I know which movies ppl will talk about in 20 years

In 50 years no one will know who Joe Russo is, added film writer Louis Peitzman.

The official X/Twitter account for Los Angeles genre film festival BeyondFest was even more blunt, writing: Lets just be honest, Joe Russo is a rich asshole hack who won the lottery when [Marvel Studios president Kevin] Feige plucked him from obscurity and let him tagalong.

Killers of the Flower Moon is playing in theaters nationwide from Apple and Paramount.

Joe Russo took hundreds of millions from Netflix to make whatever he wanted, and came up with… The Grey Man. Marty got hundreds of millions from Netflix and Apple, and made The Irishman and Killers of The Flower Moon. I know which movies ppl will talk about in 20 years… https://t.co/TvrexD9T4F

SPIRAL CURSE DEMARCO (@Clarknova1) October 29, 2023Cruel of Joe Russo to name his dog Visual Illiteracy

Siddhant Adlakha (@SiddhantAdlakha) October 30, 2023In 50 years no one will know who Joe Russo is. https://t.co/tTd6Vf4yn7

Louis Peitzman (@LouisPeitzman) October 29, 2023I could only watch a few seconds of that Joe Russo video bc it was so cringe so I just now found out he ends up bragging about BO which is pretty bold considering everything he makes that isn’t an IP delivery service is a money pit that’s materially harming actors’ careers

Jake Cole (@ThatJakePC) October 30, 2023