Roland Emmerich has criticised DC, Marvel and Star Wars for “ruining” the film industry in a new interview.
The Independence Day director made the comments while promoting his upcoming science fiction disaster movie Moonfall, scheduled for release later this month, on Den of Geek.
The filmmaker, in the interview that was published on Wednesday (2 February), discussed the hardships of making a compelling, high-concept disaster film in the age of superhero franchises that dominate movie theatres.
When asked whether the doomsday film genre has changed in recent years, Emmerich, 66, said: “Oh, yes. 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,” the director noted.
Emmerich, however, exempted Christopher Nolan from his remarks and praised him for being a “master” at making “bold, new movies”.
The German filmmaker is not the only prominent Hollywood personality to denounce superhero films in recent years.
Three years ago, Martin Scorsese said superhero movies were “not cinema” and compared them to “theme parks,” as did actor Jodie Foster in a separate interview in 2016.
Foster, who is also an acclaimed director, said the genre was “ruining the viewing habits of the American population and then ultimately the rest of the world.”
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House of Gucci director Ridley Scott called the superhero model “boring as s***” during a 2021 interview with Deadline.
Meanwhile, The Power of the Dog filmmaker Jane Campion said she would never make a superhero movie, knocking them for being “noisy and ridiculous”.
Emmerich himself had previously said he watched superhero movies on flights so he could “fall asleep.”
Moonfall, Emmerich’s latest doomsday spectacle, teases a mysterious force that knocks the moon from its orbit around Earth, sending it on a collision course with the planet, even as two astronauts and a conspiracy theorist try to work together to avert the disaster.
The film’s cast includes Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson and Game of Thrones alum John Bradley.
It is scheduled for release on 4 February in theatres across the world.
