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Dawn of the Blockbuster

Dawn of the Blockbuster.

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Dawn of the Blockbuster

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  1. Dawn of the Blockbuster

  2. Jaws (1975) and Star Wars (1977), with their unprecedented commercial success, provided Hollywood a new template for making films. Commercial concerns took priority over artistic ones. Major corporations started buying considerable shares in Hollywood studios. This influenced the entire filmmaking process as well as the subject and content of Hollywood films in the following decades.

  3. The primary interest for the producer of any prospective blockbuster film was:  • High concept premise: Jaws (Shark attack), ET (friendly alien lost on Earth), Terminator (evil robot sent back in time) • Greater concentration on tie-in merchandise: Action figures, posters, lunch boxes, consumer product marketing • Spin-off in other media: Soundtracks, TV shows, novels, videogames • Sequels and franchises: Batman, Back to the Future, Friday 13th

  4. High Concept: • Films that are pitched and developed entirely upon simply stated premise rather than character/plot development. Mostly features: • Simple characters • Heavy reliance on predictable conventions of genre • Equal reliance on star power, promotional strategies, music videos

  5. Popular examples:   • Creatures: Jaws, Alien, Jurassic Park, Snakes on Plane • Disaster: The Poseidon Adventure, Twister, Day After Tomorrow, Armageddon • StarVehicle: Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop, Rocky • Supernatural: The Exorcist, The Sixth Sense, Ghostbusters

  6. MGM: Kirk Kerkorian (Las Vegas Hotel Chain owner) • Paramount: Gulf Western Viacom • 20th Century Fox: Rupert Murdoch • Warner Bros: Time Warner AOL • Universal: MCA NBC/General Electric • Columbia: Coca Cola (1982 -1987) Sony (1989 – present)

  7. Rise of the multiplex • Another factor in the return of Hollywood to profitability was the rise of the multiplex theater, something that began during the New Hollywood era but truly took off in the 80s and after. The multiplex follows a fairly simple logic: if you have more screens, then you can run more showings of more movies, and can therefore make more money! Six-screen theaters were opening by the end of the 70s, and by the 90s, they had gone 20-screen "megaplex" theaters and beyond. Smaller theaters downtown slowly got squeezed out of business, unable to compete with the massive profits made by this new breed of theater.

  8. Studios were mainly pleased with the fact that a movie could make back its budget, no matter how big it was, in a matter of days instead of weeks or even months. The goal of the studios had shifted from making movies with "legs" (i.e. movies that would keep marching on to large, stable box office numbers week in and week out) to movies that could rake in a colossal take on opening weekend.

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