“Avengers: Endgame” director Joe Russo threw some shade at Martin Scorsese and the failure of “Killers of the Flower Moon” at the box-office.
After Martin Scorcese's daughter, Francesca, posted a TikTok video sketch of the legendary filmmaker pretending to direct his dog, Oscar, MCU director Joe Russo posted a video on Instagram with his dog, which he has decided to name “Box Office”.
"It appears we have the same muse... @martinscorsese_," Russo captioned the post. In his video, he refers to his dog as "Box Office."
This is a clear swipe at Scorsese’s criticisms of Marvel movies, and a touting of Joe and his brother's Marvel box office smash-hit “Avengers: Endgame”, which was the highest-grossing movie of all-time, having earned $2.8 billion (before “Avatar: The Way of Water” dethroned it).
Russo’s criticism is less nuanced than Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn who, in 2021, acknowledged Scorcese as "one of the greatest filmmakers who's ever existed" but noted his comments were "cynical" and a possible marketing strategy.
Scorcese's most financially successful film is 2006's “The Departed,” which earned $211 million, he’s never been a box-office behemoth — opting for art over commerce. Whereas, it seems as though, Russo opts for commerce over art. There’s no other way to read it.
Russo is the auteur of such cinematic landmarks as “The Gray Man,” “Welcome to Collinwood,” “You, Me and Dupree,” and “Cherry.”