#Francis Ford Coppola Calls ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ Success a “Victory for Cinema”

Francis Ford Coppola is praising Barbenheimer following the two films’ record-breaking debut weekend.

While answering fans’ questions on his Instagram Stories Friday, the filmmaker was asked if he had watched Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer yet.

“I have yet to see them, but the fact that people are filling big theaters to see them and that they are neither sequels nor prequels, no number attached to them, meaning they are true one-offs, is a victory for cinema,” Coppola responded.

Barbie and Oppenheimer went above and beyond all expectations for its opening weekend from July 21-23. Gerwig’s doll movie not only had one of the top openings since the pandemic but it also broke the record for the biggest opening for a female director. As for Nolan’s film, Oppenheimer ranked as the third-biggest opening ever for a biographical film in North America.

Coppola has previously been outspoken about his dislike for sequels, prequels and the modern movie industry in general. Although he was the mastermind behind The Godfather trilogy, the director-producer isn’t a big fan of Marvel and its film franchises.

“There used to be studio films,” he said in a 2022 interview with GQ magazine. “Now there are Marvel pictures. And what is a Marvel picture? A Marvel picture is one prototype movie that is made over and over and over and over and over again to look different.”

The Oscar-winning director, who has been in the industry for more than five decades, has seen the way the medium has transformed over the years. When another fan asked on Instagram where he thinks cinema will be in the next 10 years, Coppola had nothing but high hopes.

“My hunch is that we’re on the verge of a golden age,” he said. “Wonderful and illuminating cinema seen in large theaters.”

Barbie and Oppenheimer are currently playing in theaters.