Moonfall Director Accuses Marvel And Star Wars Of Ruining Movies
Moonfall director Roland Emmerich had some choice words about Star Wars and Marvel's overall effect on the movie industry.
This article is more than 2 years old
When it comes to big-budget action movies and franchises, a few studios seem to have the monopoly on the genre, soaking up massive box office numbers time and time again with their respective productions. And this idea isn’t lost on other directors and creators who want their slice of the ticket sale pie when it’s all said and done. One of those guys is Moonfall director Roland Emmerich who had a few choice words about the current state of the industry in Hollywood. He let on his thoughts about the other movie franchises, like Marvel and Star Wars, who have something of a stranglehold right now.
While speaking with Den of Geek about the movie business these days, Emmerich was quick to point the finger at the big hitters in the space and what he thinks those studios have done to alter the movie landscape. For a guy who has dealt in big-budget disaster (ish) films for much of his career, Roland Emmerich doesn’t seem to love what is happening these days. He said, “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.”
In many ways, he’s not wrong here. The big-budget films these days which draw massive numbers into theaters are mostly coming from these groups like Marvel and Star Wars. It’s easy to see why it would be frustrating to have something like constraints over an idea for a big film because it didn’t exist in one of the franchises. It would seem like now there are limitations around what kinds of movies can get the requisite dollars for a blockbuster action film. The Moonfall director would apparently understand this better than almost anyone in the industry, having been at it in this genre for decades now.
With Moonfall, Roland Emmerich is bringing his particular brand of ridiculous premise and massive budget dollars to a film about the moon on a collision course with Earth. The object has been taken over by a mysterious, and evil, force that has the world now on death’s doorstep if it crash-lands onto our little blue orb. Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson are on the case though as astronauts who’ve identified the problem and now are racing against time to save the world from, well, the moon. Is it ridiculous and silly? Of course, but this is the space Roland Emmerich has been operating in for some time now.
Roland Emmerich has plenty of other movies that have crushed at the box office with original premises and a disaster tilt to them. He’s helmed Independence Day and the follow-up Resurgence as well as White House Down, 2012, The Day After Tomorrow, 10,000 BC, and Godzilla. It’s been quite a successful run. He’s produced billions of box office dollars on original ideas and clearly wants the industry to be open to further stories in the future. Emmerich seems to think the proliferation of major franchises has this somewhat in doubt.
It won’t be long until we get Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall up on the big screen. The movie is set to hit theaters tomorrow (February 4th). It will be interesting to see how it performs considering it exists outside of one of those major franchises.
