Martin Scorsese praises Barbie and Oppenheimer - even though he hasn't seen either movie yet

Martin Scorsese has praised the impact made by Barbie and Oppenheimer and how the two movies encouraged fans to flock to theaters.

Barbie and Oppenheimer were released around the same time this summer, and when Tom Cruise announced he would be watching them as a double bill in the cinema, a portmanteau went viral - 'Barbenheimer.'

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Both films received universal acclaim and were also enormous hits at the box office, earning a combined $2.36 billion.

Barbie is the most successful movie ever helmed by a solo female director (Greta Gerwig), while Oppenheimer is the second-most successful R-rated movie of all time behind Joker.

Scorsese has been an outspoken critic of the emergence of franchise and superhero movies, so he is delighted that Barbenheimer was so successful.

"I do think that the combination of Oppenheimer and Barbie was something special," he told The Hindustan Times.

"It seemed to be, I hate that word, but the perfect storm. It came about at the right time. And the most important thing is that people went to watch these in a theatre. And I think that’s wonderful."

2.86 (1083)

Barbie (2023)

'Barbie' follows one of the dolls who lives in Barbieland. She is expelled from school for not being perfect enough. She then decides to go on an adventure in the real world.

Directed by: Greta Gerwig
Stars: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and America Ferrera

Scorsese hasn't seen Barbie or Oppenheimer

Scorsese did go on to admit that he hasn't actually seen either movie, but is happy for some of his previous collaborators like Margot Robbie and Rodrigo Prieto.

"I haven't seen the films yet. I love Chris Nolan's work," he revealed.

"Margot Robbie, I must say, started with me from The Wolf of Wall Street.

"Rodrigo Prieto (cinematographer), after finishing Killers of the Flower Moon, went on to shoot Barbie. So it's all in the family.

"The way it fit perfectly - a film with such entertainment value, purely with the bright colours - and a film with such severity and strength, and pretty much about the danger of the end to our civilisation - you couldn't have more opposite films to work together.

"It does offer some hope for a different cinema to emerge, different from what's been happening in the last 20 years, aside from the great work being done in independent cinema. I always get upset by that, the independent films being relegated to ‘indies.’ Films that only a certain kind of people would like. Just show them on a tiny screen somewhere."