Martin Scorsese Says Cinemas Are Being "Invaded" by "Theme Park" Films

The director said at the London Film Festival that cinemas need to "step up."

Martin Scorsese has doubled down on comments that sparked widespread debate earlier this month, in which he compared Marvel films to "theme parks."

Speaking at a press conference Sunday alongside Robert De Niro and Al Pacino ahead of The Irishman’s closing-night screening at the BFI London Film Festival, the director repeated the "theme park" line.

"It's not cinema, it’s something else," he argued. "We shouldn’t be invaded by it. We need cinemas to step up and show films that are narrative films."

The comments echoed statements he made Saturday during BAFTA's annual David Lean lecture, claiming that movie theaters are "all being taken over" by theme park films.

"Theaters have become amusement parks. That is all fine and good but don’t invade everything else in that sense," he said. "That is fine and good for those who enjoy that type of film and, by the way, knowing what goes into them now, I admire what they do. It’s not my kind of thing, it simply is not. It’s creating another kind of audience that thinks cinema is that."