Did Harvey Weinstein Kill Blockbuster Awards Chances? 'Avengers' Director Thinks So.

Harvey Weinstein is a monster. He was such an accepted villain in Hollywood that in the credits sequence of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, there's a troll designed to look like him. Weinstein's crimes have him rotting away in prison, but the shadow he cast over Hollywood was a staggering one. But the reason Weinstein was allowed to wield his power over the industry for so long was that he was a hitmaker. No only was he the producer or executive producer on a lot of moneymakers, but he took movies like Shakespeare in Love and Pulp Fiction and won Academy Awards.Enter Joe Russo, half of the directing duo responsible for a bunch of Marvel hits like Captain America: Winter Soldier and Avengers: Endgame, as well as the recent Electric State, on Netflix. Recently, Russo sat down with The Sunday Times to talk about movies. When the topic of why blockbusters don't win any major awards anymore, Russo blamed someone familiar. He said it was a trend “started by Harvey Weinstein.”Russo continued, “He vilified mainstream movies to champion the art films he pushed for Oscar campaigns.” Russo went on to say, “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.”Look, in the pantheon of things Weinstein did, this stuff doesn't really rank. In fact, his support of indies into mainstream hits is one of the only things we wish people would emulate. We're not really sure how he tore down blockbusters. The 90s and 2000s were a very profitable time for those kinds of movies. But also, we shouldn't hold a guy like Russo responsible for Weinstein's actions just for mentioning his name. And when talking about current trends, he doesn't have to give context or history when he speaks. And he is right, Weinstein made a name, beating those big movies for awards. Russo is primarily a blockbuster director, and he seems to think this marked a split between the general public and the awards-voting Hollywood. And in this correlation, he thinks blockbusters don't get enough credit. They probably don't. A healthy Hollywood should have a mix of popular movies, indie movies, and gigantic movies, all working together to create robust returns for studios. Russo expanded on his argument, “Like this argument that Marvel movies were killing cinema. Well, Marvel movies seemed to be keeping cinemas open for quite a long time.”We totally get where he's coming from, but Marvel has gotten Academy Award consideration for its outstanding features, like Black Panther, and in the technical awards for visual effects, sound, makeup, and song. You could argue something like Avengers: Endgame was snubbed, but that's part of the awards. And when it comes to not hearing "Thank you" for Marvel bringing people to the box office, to quote Don Draper: "That's what the money is for."Right now, Hollywood is at a crossroads. We'd love to see more mainstream movies win awards, but then we'd love to see them be better as well. Until that happens, everyone will be blaming someone for why things are the way they are. We hope they focus on making things better instead. Let us know what you think in the comments.

Mar 17, 2025 - 19:26

Did Harvey Weinstein Kill Blockbuster Awards Chances? 'Avengers' Director Thinks So.

Harvey Weinstein is a monster. He was such an accepted villain in Hollywood that in the credits sequence of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, there's a troll designed to look like him.

Weinstein's crimes have him rotting away in prison, but the shadow he cast over Hollywood was a staggering one.

But the reason Weinstein was allowed to wield his power over the industry for so long was that he was a hitmaker.

No only was he the producer or executive producer on a lot of moneymakers, but he took movies like Shakespeare in Love and Pulp Fiction and won Academy Awards.

Enter Joe Russo, half of the directing duo responsible for a bunch of Marvel hits like Captain America: Winter Soldier and Avengers: Endgame, as well as the recent Electric State, on Netflix.

Recently, Russo sat down with The Sunday Times to talk about movies. When the topic of why blockbusters don't win any major awards anymore, Russo blamed someone familiar. He said it was a trend “started by Harvey Weinstein.”

Russo continued, “He vilified mainstream movies to champion the art films he pushed for Oscar campaigns.” Russo went on to say, “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.”

Look, in the pantheon of things Weinstein did, this stuff doesn't really rank. In fact, his support of indies into mainstream hits is one of the only things we wish people would emulate.

We're not really sure how he tore down blockbusters. The 90s and 2000s were a very profitable time for those kinds of movies.

But also, we shouldn't hold a guy like Russo responsible for Weinstein's actions just for mentioning his name. And when talking about current trends, he doesn't have to give context or history when he speaks.

And he is right, Weinstein made a name, beating those big movies for awards.

Russo is primarily a blockbuster director, and he seems to think this marked a split between the general public and the awards-voting Hollywood. And in this correlation, he thinks blockbusters don't get enough credit.

They probably don't. A healthy Hollywood should have a mix of popular movies, indie movies, and gigantic movies, all working together to create robust returns for studios.

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

We totally get where he's coming from, but Marvel has gotten Academy Award consideration for its outstanding features, like Black Panther, and in the technical awards for visual effects, sound, makeup, and song.

You could argue something like Avengers: Endgame was snubbed, but that's part of the awards. And when it comes to not hearing "Thank you" for Marvel bringing people to the box office, to quote Don Draper: "That's what the money is for."

Right now, Hollywood is at a crossroads. We'd love to see more mainstream movies win awards, but then we'd love to see them be better as well.

Until that happens, everyone will be blaming someone for why things are the way they are. We hope they focus on making things better instead.

Let us know what you think in the comments.