Steven Spielberg invented the summer blockbuster and now the filmmaker is putting a clock on the superhero film genre. In an interview with Yahoo! Spielberg suggests that the superhero film will go the way of the Western and ride off into the sunset.
“…We were around when the Western died and there will be a time when the superhero movie goes the way of the Western. It doesn’t mean there won’t be another occasion where the Western comes back and the superhero movie someday returns. Of course, right now the superhero movie is alive and thriving. I’m only saying that these cycles have a finite time in popular culture. There will come a day when the mythological stories are supplanted by some other genre that possibly some young filmmaker is just thinking about discovering for all of us,” said Spielberg.
This is an over simplification of the superhero film and could be perceived as a slap in the face to Disney as the two sides could not come together on a long term agreement and it looks like Dreamworks and Disney will part ways. Unlike the Western, the superhero genre has infinite possibilities and storylines. As long as the box office and merchandise revenues are there, the superhero machine will continue to produce.
