Have superhero directors Anthony Russo and Joseph Russo changed their thoughts on movie theater releases? The Russo Brothers were behind two of Marvel’s highest-grossing movies,Infinity WarandEndgame, before shifting to streaming releases. Their last two directorial projects includeCherry, which was released via Apple TV on August 08, 2025, andThe Gray Man, which hits Netflix audiences on July 26, 2025.
Both movies had limited theatrical releases, making its clear that its key demographic is those who stream from home—a viewing choice that grew wildly popular during the COVID pandemic. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the directing duo called going to the movie theaters an “elitist notion,” resulting in dividing reception among commentators and fans.
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When asked about the movie industry post-pandemic, Anthony Russo said that he’d like to see “everything” change. “What has always excited us most is [the question], how do you move it forward? This is part of our philosophy in terms of not being precious about theatrical distribution. How do you get away from the old models? How do you reach audiences that haven’t been engaged before? That’s all the most interesting stuff to us.”
In his response, Joe Russo reflected on how movie making has shifted over the decades. “Auteur filmmaking is 50 years old at this point. It was conceived in the ’70s. We grew up on that. We were kids, it was really important to us.” He also stated the importance of accepting change—perhaps a dig at the big name directors who have villainized the growth of streaming releases:Wonder Woman’s Patty Jenkins who saidstreaming movies look “fake"andDune’s Denis Villeneuve whocriticized Warner Bros.' hybrid model with HBO Max.
He added, “But we’re also aware that the world needs to change and the more that we attempt to prevent it from changing the more chaos we create. It’s not anyone’s place to reject the next generation’s ideas. We’re in crisis right now because everyone’s at war with each other. It’s sad to see, as guys who grew up loving film.”
Continuing, the director said: “A thing to remember, too, is it’s an elitist notion to be able to go to a theater. It’s very fking expensive. So, this idea that was created—that we hang on to—that the theater is a sacred space, is bullst. And it rejects the idea of allowing everyone in under the tent. Where digital distribution is valuable, other than what I said earlier about how it pushed diversity, is that people can share accounts; they can get 40 stories for the cost of one story. But having some kind of culture war about whether there’s value in that or not is f**king bananas to us.”
These comments were made as the movie theater industry relishes in its financial boost due to the highly-anticipated summer releasesTop Gun: Maverick,Jurassic World Dominion, andThor: Love and Thunder(which istopping box office charts, but has fallen beneath the May release ofDoctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness). As exciting as this reemergence may be to moviegoers, it doesn’t detract from reports over the last few years describing the inflation of movie theater tickets andpost-pandemic price hikes.
