Look good? Let\u2019s start with the genesis of the summer blockbuster.\u00a0<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”25px” header_2_letter_spacing=”0.4px” header_2_line_height=”1.4em” header_3_font_size=”19px” header_3_letter_spacing=”0.5px” header_3_line_height=”1.3em” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
The \u201cpop culture phenomenon\u201d blockbuster<\/h2>\nJaws<\/em> (1975), Star Wars<\/em> (1977), Jurassic Park<\/em> (1993)<\/h3>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dRJd1f8s4bU” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”30px||30px||true|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
This is the OG blockbuster.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jaws <\/i>will always claim the title as the first. Its model has been scrutinized<\/a>, documented, and mimicked for decades. It was the first ever to earn $100 million and started with a simple premise: \u201cWhat if a monster was eating people at your beach?\u201d<\/p>\nThe story: A morally reliable seaside police chief (Roy Scheider), the affable shark nerd (Richard Dreyfuss), and the Captain Ahab-type traumatized shark hunter whose worst fear is to be eaten by a shark (Robert Shaw). Steven Spielberg\u2019s direction and Carl Gottlieb\u2019s and Peter Benchley\u2019s screenplay provided the perfect components for a meaty good foundation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The effects: Spielberg was supposed to be working on a budget of around $3 million that ended up rising to a temperature of $12 million<\/a>. Even in 1974, this was not a big-budget film. While the mechanical shark and shooting underwater cost the production countless delays, it also delivered a climaxed payoff of realistic action-driven terror during the final attack.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe advertising: Universal Studios spent $700,000<\/a> ($3.9 million today) on national tv spots for Jaws <\/i>for the three nights leading up to the release – they absolutely doused the national networks<\/a>. It opened on June 20, 1975, in 465 theaters. The \u201cwide release\u201d was a burgeoning concept and the campaign resulted in an instant sweeping hit: Jaws <\/i>brought in over $7 million its opening weekend and would gross almost half a billion dollars worldwide<\/a> (over $2 billion adjusted) by the end of its theatrical run.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nStar Wars <\/i>was released on May 25th, 1977, and utilized the Jaws <\/i>model – a warm summery release, a young director with ambitious special effects, and a story developed with a sense of epic scale. What the water was to Jaws<\/i>, space was to Star Wars<\/i>, and the jungle was to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade <\/i>(1984). These films cemented the idea that building deep, large-scale worlds of action-driven suspense could produce awestruck audiences and make studios rich.<\/p>\n
Spielberg would replicate the success in 1993 with Jurassic Park<\/i>: a motley assortment of clashing characters stuck on an island (like the three stuck on a boat in Jaws<\/i>), creatures that want to eat everyone, and a world built with the most advanced effects of the time. As for shark movies, Jaws <\/i>would inspire an increasingly campy array of shark films, from 1999\u2019s Deep Blue Sea <\/i>to 2018\u2019s Santa Jaws<\/i>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”25px” header_2_letter_spacing=”0.4px” header_2_line_height=”1.4em” header_3_font_size=”19px” header_3_letter_spacing=”0.5px” header_3_line_height=”1.3em” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
The \u201cend of the world\u201d summer blockbuster<\/h2>\nIndependence Day<\/i> (1996), Avengers: Infinity War <\/i>(2018)\u00a0<\/h3>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Srsz9BTmSHs” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”30px||30px||true|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Hello, Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich. We see you.<\/p>\n
27 years later, Independence Day<\/i> stands up as one of the most watchable summer blockbusters of all time. You come in from a Fourth of July picnic to use the bathroom and the TV is on with Will Smith out on his lawn in pajamas as he realizes the neighbors are fleeing? You\u2019re not going back outside for a minute.<\/p>\n
Okay, so how many ingredients does Independence Day <\/i>check off?<\/p>\n
Bombastic visual effects: Independence Day <\/i>won \u201cBest Visual Effects\u201d at the 1997 Oscars.<\/p>\n
Star-driven ensemble: Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum supported by Judd Hirsch, Mary McDonell, Randy Quaid, and Bill Pullman.<\/p>\n
Big-ass budget and big-ass gross earnings: The film was made on an estimated $75 million<\/a> and earned over $300 million at the box office<\/a> during a theatrical release that played in 2,977 theaters.<\/p>\nA Hollywood Insider article from 2021<\/a> asserted that Independence Day <\/i>\u201cinvented the modern blockbuster\u201d. It positioned that the film brought one-liners to popularity, introduced large ensemble casts, and created the \u201cspectacle of mass destruction\u201d concept that we see in so many summer action films today.<\/p>\nOn two of those points? Wholeheartedly disagree (Jaws <\/i>had one of the most famous one-liners<\/a>). But the spectacle of mass destruction? Independence Day <\/i>was the first to send aliens to America and destroy entire cities with millions of people on the big screen. There\u2019s the iconic shot of the White House exploding:<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vjFG-4Ge668″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”30px||30px||true|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
The scale of the end-of-the-world concept lives on today: the Infinity Wars saga was entirely built around a character (Thanos) attempting to destroy humanity. Avengers: Infinity War <\/i>and Avengers: Endgame <\/i>sit at #2 and #6 on the all-time list<\/a> of highest-grossing films. From a release standpoint, the Avengers <\/i>films nailed it. The last two were released in late April one year apart and went on a nearly identical five-month summer-long run<\/a> to become two of the biggest summer blockbusters ever made.<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”25px” header_2_letter_spacing=”0.4px” header_2_line_height=”1.4em” header_3_font_size=”19px” header_3_letter_spacing=”0.5px” header_3_line_height=”1.3em” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
The \u201cbuddy comedy\u201d summer blockbuster<\/h2>\nStarsky & Hutch <\/i>(2004), Wedding Crashers <\/i>(2005), The Hangover <\/i>(2009)<\/h3>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=P9pa_8-WdlU” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”30px||30px||true|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Far Out Magazine said<\/a> that the summer comedy blockbuster ended with The Hangover<\/i>. Think about the last 14 years and\u2026yes? Where are you, 2023 buddy comedy blockbuster?!<\/p>\nFor about five years, the buddy blockbuster comedy reigned. They were brontosauruses, walking through dense marshes spouting jokes that would end careers today. They were t-rexes, awkwardly crashing through brush and coming-of-age as high-school kids trying to have sex (Superbad)<\/i>, as thirty-something men trying to have sex (Wedding Crashers)<\/i>, as – okay, we\u2019re starting to establish a theme here.\u00a0<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dRJd1f8s4bU” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”30px||30px||true|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
This is the OG blockbuster.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jaws <\/i>will always claim the title as the first. Its model has been scrutinized<\/a>, documented, and mimicked for decades. It was the first ever to earn $100 million and started with a simple premise: \u201cWhat if a monster was eating people at your beach?\u201d<\/p>\n The story: A morally reliable seaside police chief (Roy Scheider), the affable shark nerd (Richard Dreyfuss), and the Captain Ahab-type traumatized shark hunter whose worst fear is to be eaten by a shark (Robert Shaw). Steven Spielberg\u2019s direction and Carl Gottlieb\u2019s and Peter Benchley\u2019s screenplay provided the perfect components for a meaty good foundation.\u00a0<\/p>\n The effects: Spielberg was supposed to be working on a budget of around $3 million that ended up rising to a temperature of $12 million<\/a>. Even in 1974, this was not a big-budget film. While the mechanical shark and shooting underwater cost the production countless delays, it also delivered a climaxed payoff of realistic action-driven terror during the final attack.\u00a0<\/p>\n The advertising: Universal Studios spent $700,000<\/a> ($3.9 million today) on national tv spots for Jaws <\/i>for the three nights leading up to the release – they absolutely doused the national networks<\/a>. It opened on June 20, 1975, in 465 theaters. The \u201cwide release\u201d was a burgeoning concept and the campaign resulted in an instant sweeping hit: Jaws <\/i>brought in over $7 million its opening weekend and would gross almost half a billion dollars worldwide<\/a> (over $2 billion adjusted) by the end of its theatrical run.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Star Wars <\/i>was released on May 25th, 1977, and utilized the Jaws <\/i>model – a warm summery release, a young director with ambitious special effects, and a story developed with a sense of epic scale. What the water was to Jaws<\/i>, space was to Star Wars<\/i>, and the jungle was to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade <\/i>(1984). These films cemented the idea that building deep, large-scale worlds of action-driven suspense could produce awestruck audiences and make studios rich.<\/p>\n Spielberg would replicate the success in 1993 with Jurassic Park<\/i>: a motley assortment of clashing characters stuck on an island (like the three stuck on a boat in Jaws<\/i>), creatures that want to eat everyone, and a world built with the most advanced effects of the time. As for shark movies, Jaws <\/i>would inspire an increasingly campy array of shark films, from 1999\u2019s Deep Blue Sea <\/i>to 2018\u2019s Santa Jaws<\/i>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”25px” header_2_letter_spacing=”0.4px” header_2_line_height=”1.4em” header_3_font_size=”19px” header_3_letter_spacing=”0.5px” header_3_line_height=”1.3em” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Srsz9BTmSHs” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”30px||30px||true|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Hello, Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich. We see you.<\/p>\n 27 years later, Independence Day<\/i> stands up as one of the most watchable summer blockbusters of all time. You come in from a Fourth of July picnic to use the bathroom and the TV is on with Will Smith out on his lawn in pajamas as he realizes the neighbors are fleeing? You\u2019re not going back outside for a minute.<\/p>\n Okay, so how many ingredients does Independence Day <\/i>check off?<\/p>\n Bombastic visual effects: Independence Day <\/i>won \u201cBest Visual Effects\u201d at the 1997 Oscars.<\/p>\n Star-driven ensemble: Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum supported by Judd Hirsch, Mary McDonell, Randy Quaid, and Bill Pullman.<\/p>\n Big-ass budget and big-ass gross earnings: The film was made on an estimated $75 million<\/a> and earned over $300 million at the box office<\/a> during a theatrical release that played in 2,977 theaters.<\/p>\n A Hollywood Insider article from 2021<\/a> asserted that Independence Day <\/i>\u201cinvented the modern blockbuster\u201d. It positioned that the film brought one-liners to popularity, introduced large ensemble casts, and created the \u201cspectacle of mass destruction\u201d concept that we see in so many summer action films today.<\/p>\n On two of those points? Wholeheartedly disagree (Jaws <\/i>had one of the most famous one-liners<\/a>). But the spectacle of mass destruction? Independence Day <\/i>was the first to send aliens to America and destroy entire cities with millions of people on the big screen. There\u2019s the iconic shot of the White House exploding:<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vjFG-4Ge668″ _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”30px||30px||true|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The scale of the end-of-the-world concept lives on today: the Infinity Wars saga was entirely built around a character (Thanos) attempting to destroy humanity. Avengers: Infinity War <\/i>and Avengers: Endgame <\/i>sit at #2 and #6 on the all-time list<\/a> of highest-grossing films. From a release standpoint, the Avengers <\/i>films nailed it. The last two were released in late April one year apart and went on a nearly identical five-month summer-long run<\/a> to become two of the biggest summer blockbusters ever made.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”25px” header_2_letter_spacing=”0.4px” header_2_line_height=”1.4em” header_3_font_size=”19px” header_3_letter_spacing=”0.5px” header_3_line_height=”1.3em” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=P9pa_8-WdlU” _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”30px||30px||true|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.21.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Far Out Magazine said<\/a> that the summer comedy blockbuster ended with The Hangover<\/i>. Think about the last 14 years and\u2026yes? Where are you, 2023 buddy comedy blockbuster?!<\/p>\n For about five years, the buddy blockbuster comedy reigned. They were brontosauruses, walking through dense marshes spouting jokes that would end careers today. They were t-rexes, awkwardly crashing through brush and coming-of-age as high-school kids trying to have sex (Superbad)<\/i>, as thirty-something men trying to have sex (Wedding Crashers)<\/i>, as – okay, we\u2019re starting to establish a theme here.\u00a0<\/p>\nThe \u201cend of the world\u201d summer blockbuster<\/h2>\n
Independence Day<\/i> (1996), Avengers: Infinity War <\/i>(2018)\u00a0<\/h3>\n
The \u201cbuddy comedy\u201d summer blockbuster<\/h2>\n
Starsky & Hutch <\/i>(2004), Wedding Crashers <\/i>(2005), The Hangover <\/i>(2009)<\/h3>\n
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