10 Iconic Movies That Spawned A Thousand Imitators
2. Batman Begins
After Batman & Robin almost killed the franchise completely and sent the character back into hibernation, Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins emerged as one of the greatest reboots to ever come out of Hollywood. Unfortunately, the Dark Knight's cinematic reinvention proved to be so popular that almost every single reboot over the next decade-plus was seemingly contractually obligated to go down the 'dark and gritty' route.
It isn't even like they tried to hide it either, with the minds behind Terminator Salvation, Sherlock Holmes, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Casino Royale, Godzilla, The Amazing Spider-Man, Power Rangers, Blade Runner 2049 and a whole lot more even publicly admitting that Nolan's work had served as a direct inspiration on their reboots.
The tone of Zack Snyder's Man of Steel hardly came as a surprise either with Nolan acting as producer, while for better or worse the filmmaker's template for Batman Begins also saw his fingerprints all over the likes of Dredd, Fantastic Four, RoboCop, Snow White and the Huntsman, Star Trek and dozens of others as the dark and gritty reboot phase reached fever pitch.