German film director, Roland Emmerich, is often known as a “master of disaster”, which sounds incredibly ominous out of context. The context being, of course, that he’s renowned for his science fiction and disaster films, such as Independence Day, Godzilla (1998), and The Day After Tomorrow.
Despite being behind some genre-defining movies, though, the director has recently noted how difficult it is to create a real, unique blockbuster in the age of popular franchises like Marvel and Star Wars having such a grip on fans.
While you're here, be sure to check out our interview with No Way Home star Tom Holland below.
In an interview with Den of Geek, he was asked if the disaster genre has changed in recent years: “Oh yes,” he replied. “Because naturally Marvel and DC Comics, and Star Wars, have pretty much taken over. It’s ruining our industry a little bit, because nobody does anything original anymore.”
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Ouch. To be fair to Emmerich, his mixed feelings on superhero movies are nothing new - he explained that growing up in Germany before that genre was properly introduced there is part of the reason why he remains unsure about them: “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 [of movies] 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.”
It's actually pretty surprising that he named Star Wars as an example of one of the franchises ruining the industry, though, as he’s previously admitted that the original 1977 movie was one that inspired him to become a director in the first place.
You can’t deny that there’s definitely some truth to what he’s saying, though - massive releases like Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: No Way Home have set a super high standard for what audiences have come to expect from movies. As the scope for movies keeps on getting bigger, the bar for a 'good film' gets higher, and so naturally audiences become less easily impressed. Oh well, that’s not going to stop us from getting excited for them, is it? Sorry, Emmerich.
Featured Image Credit: Disney, MarvelTopics: Star Wars, Marvel, TV And Film, Disney