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If you want to know why blockbuster movies don't win awards like Oscars, Avengers: Endgame director Joe Russo blames former Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein.
Russo recently spoke to The Sunday Times, Russo explained his reasoning. The Electric State co-director believes Weinstein was behind the vilification of blockbusters.
“He vilified mainstream movies to champion the art films he pushed for Oscar campaigns,” Russo explained. “Popular films were winning Oscars before the mid-nineties, then [Harvey] 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 instead punch each other in the face over.
“Like this argument that Marvel movies were killing cinema. Well, Marvel movies seemed to be keeping cinemas open for quite a long time,” he continued.
At least blockbusters are receiving awards attention. Wicked made over $735 million at the box office and received 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. It took home Best Costume Design and Best Production Design.
Dune: Part Two also made over $700 million worldwide. It received five Oscar nominations at the 2025 ceremony. Its predecessor, Dune, received 10 nominations and won six awards in 2022.
Perhaps Russo is bitter about his Marvel movies not receiving Oscar nominations. Russo's Avengers movies Infinity War and Endgame both received Best Visual Effects nominations. The Russo Brothers' Captain America: The Winter Soldier also received a Best Visual Effects nomination in 2015.
The only Marvel movie to receive a Best Picture nomination was Black Panther. It also received six other nominations, including Best Original Song for “All the Stars.”
Joe Russo's Avengers movies
Soon, Joe Russo and his brother Anthony will direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars for Marvel. They return after last directing Endgame in 2019, which is one of the highest-grossing movies of all time.
However, their career outside Marvel ended sooner than expected. At the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC), the Russo Brothers were announced as the fifth and sixth Avengers movies, Doomsday and Secret Wars.
That was not the only surprise, though. Robert Downey Jr. was also announced to be returning as Doctor Doom, not Tony Stark/Iron Man.
In their break from Marvel, the Russo Brothers directed three movies. The first was Cherry, starring MCU alum Tom Holland. The movie was released on Apple TV+ in 2021.
The following year, they directed The Gray Man for Netflix. It starred Chris Evans, Ryan Gosling, and Ana de Armas. It came out on July 15, 2022.
Before their next movie, the Russo Brothers produced Everything Everywhere All at Once. The A24 movie, which was directed by the Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), was nominated for 11 Oscars, and it won several. Everything Everywhere All at Once won Best Picture, and Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan won Best Actress and Best Actor.
Now, they are promoting their latest feature film, The Electric State, which was also made for Netflix. Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt star in it, as well as Stanley Tucci, Giancarlo Esposito, and Quan. It was panned upon its release by critics.
