It’ll probably come as no surprise that five of the 10 highest-grossing movies of all time have come from either the Marvel or Star Wars universes. While these kings of cinematic universe movies have been dominating the box office for years, several respected figures from the industry have offered critiques, most famously when Martin Scorsese said that superhero movies were “not cinema.” Now, Independence Day director Roland Emmerich is having his say.
Emmerich is out here talking up his new disaster film Moonfall, a movie that stands completely on its own without the need to watch other movies within an extended continuity. Speaking to Den of Geek about the changes to the genre in recent years, Emmerich accused Marvel, DC, and Star Wars of “ruining” the movie industry, or at least his vision of it. “Naturally Marvel and DC Comics, and Star Wars, have pretty much taken over,” he said. “It’s ruining our industry a little bit, because nobody does anything original anymore.”
Of course, there are still original movies being made; Emmerich is still making them, but it’s extremely unlikely that they’ll outperform established franchises like Marvel and Star Wars at the box office.
Roland Emmerich isn’t interested in superhero movies
As for the idea of making a superhero movie himself, the director doesn’t seem interested, perhaps because they weren’t a big thing when he was growing up in Germany. “There were [The Adventures of Tintin comics], but they were very childish and there were no superheroes. So that’s why at the very beginning, superheroes didn’t work in Germany. They needed 10 or 15 years to get to the same level as the rest of the world…. But I just have never found any interest in that kind of movie.”
Emmerich has said that he’ll watch superhero movies on airplanes… because they help him fall asleep. Otherwise, he cites Christopher Nolan as someone who’s doing great work. “You should make bold new movies, you know? And I think, actually, Christopher Nolan is the master of that. He is someone who can make movies about whatever he wants. I have it a little bit harder, but I still have a big enough name—especially when it’s a disaster or has some sort of disaster theme.”
I wonder if he likes Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy?
Anyway, Moonfall is currently in theaters, featuring former Game of Thrones star John Bradley (Samwell Tarly).
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