The idea of the summer blockbuster started in June 1975 and the movie was Jaws. Blockbuster means a feature film that is highly popular and financially successful. It is aimed at mass markets, and has associated merchandising. The term began to appear in the early 1940s where aerial bombs were capable of destroying a whole block of buildings. It was applied to movies in May 1943, when advertisements used the word.
It was Jaws that changed things. Jaws was perceived as a new cultural phenomenon: a fast-paced, exciting entertainment, with 'buzz'. Star Wars came next with the same sort of appeal, and had a run of more than a year. This started a race for the summer blockbuster and it has continued.
Voted the number 1 blockbuster year is 1984 - Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Karate Kid, Gremlins, The Neverending Story, Once Upon a Time in America, Purple Rain, Red Dawn, Revenge of the Nerds, Top Secret, Bachelor Party, The Natural were the movies.
The second place summer is 1989 with Batman, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, When Harry Met Sally, Dead Poets' Society, Do the Right Thing, The Abyss, Ghostbusters II, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Lethal Weapon 2, License to Kill, Parenthood, Uncle Buck, and Road House.
The third place summer is 1985 with Back to the Future, The Goonies, Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Teen Wolf, Weird Science, National Lampoon's European Vacation, The Black Cauldron, Cocoon, Fletch, Fright Night, and St. Elmo's Fire.
Is there a lot in store for this year's summer blockbuster season? We're half-way through the summer and the promotions continue to take precedence over the reviews in our google retrievals. That might be called the 'blockbuster effect.'
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