Ken Loach Weighs In On Superhero Movie Debate: “They’re Made As Commodities Like Hamburgers”

Tom Grater

Click here to read the full article.

Brit indie stalwart Ken Loach has followed Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola in adding his voice to the debate swirling around the artistic merit of comic book movies, describing them as “boring” and “nothing to do with the art of cinema.”

The filmmaker, whose latest feature Sorry We Missed You was in Cannes competition this year, made the comments in a TV interview with UK broadcaster Sky.

More from Deadline

“Superhero movies I just find boring. They’re made as commodities, this is the essential point, like hamburgers or whatever. It’s not about communicating, sharing our imagination, it’s about commodities that will make profits for big corporations. They’re cynical exercises. It has nothing to do with the art of cinema,” said Loach.

However, in the same interview the director also added that “film should be as broad as a library.”

“It should have every kind of story and situation we can imagine. Whether it’s funny, sad, tragedy, comedy, documentary, whether it takes us to foreign places or reflects the world we live,” commented Loach.

Last night, speaking at the Rome Film Fest, Martin Scorsese doubled-down on recent comments in which he described superhero films as “theme parks.”

“Right now, theaters seem to be mainly supporting the ‘amusement park’ comic book films, they’re taking over the theaters. They can have those films and it’s fine, but that shouldn’t become what our young people believe is cinema,” said Scorsese.

Coppola also recently weighed in on the debate this week, saying that the genre was “not cinema.”

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.