Post by ThatGuy on Oct 27, 2018 11:18:59 GMT
It's similar to how, after Elektra in 2005, there wasn't another female-led superhero movie for over a decade because no one thought there would be enough of an audience for a female-led superhero movie so no studio, including MCU for 10 years, was willing to spend money to make a female-led superhero movie, until Wonder Woman showed that female-led superhero movies can be successful. And now, there are more female-led superhero movies that have been announced or being planned.
And similarly, Superman: The Movie showed that a big-budget superhero movie could be successful and basically created the genre of big-budget superhero movies. So without Superman: The Movie, there would be no MCU.
There are plenty of movies that the MCU could take inspiration from. The Matrix for one (X-men). Also, Superman might have been the 1st superhero big budget blockbuster, but it was the 1st blockbuster (Jaws and even Star Wars was before that). The thing you don't get is that people can and do take inspiration from movies outside of that genre. That's why the MCU isn't pegged down to one genre and that's why it works.
What other big budget superhero movie came out after Superman: The Movie? It didn't start something big immediately. If anything, it was an experiment that didn't pay off. There was no rise of the big budget superhero blockbuster after Superman '78. They all went low budget after it. Like dazz said, it was Batman '89 that did it. When they say that they take inspiration from Superman '78, it's mostly the structure and tone of the movie.
There are way more female led comic book movies out before Elektra and they all were bad because the studios had no faith in them. Supergirl being the main one. Barbwire, Catwoman, Tank Girl... And Wonder Woman had Chris Pine to lead the movie. WB/DC wasn't gonna let Gal Gadot lead that movie.