Joe Russo claims Harvey Weinstein kept blockbusters from winning awards, says he ‘vilified’ them

Joe Russo, alongside his brother, Anthony, has made some of the most successful movies ever made. Now, he’s offering his theory as to why those blockbuster films don’t do better with awards bodies.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Russo explained that he thought Harvey Weinstein is part of the reason blockbusters are now overlooked at the Oscars.

“He vilified mainstream movies to champion the art films he pushed for Oscar campaigns,” Russo said. “Popular films were winning Oscars before the mid ’90s, then Weinstein started mudslinging campaigns…It affected how audiences view the Oscars, because they’ve not seen most of the movies. We’re in a complicated place. Things we should all be enjoying collectively we instead punch each other in the face over.”

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Russo added, “Like this argument that Marvel movies were killing cinema. Well, Marvel movies seemed to be keeping cinemas open for quite a long time.”

This comes just a year after Oppenheimer, which earned almost $1 billion at the box office, won Best Picture. Wicked may not have won Best Picture this year, but it too was a populist hit that earned plenty of awards contention.

It’s true, though, that Marvel movies have been largely ignored by the Oscars, with the almost sole exception of Black Panther. Russo and his co-director brother, who helmed Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, and are set to return to the Marvel universe to direct the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars and Avengers: Doomsday.

The Russos have earned plenty of money, though, and surely that’s its own reward.