Originally Posted By dagobert Marvel is just classy. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.slashfilm.com/jurassic-world-the-avengers-box-office/">http://www.slashfilm.com/juras...-office/</a>
Originally Posted By leemac <<>>Batman may have created the summer popcorn flick<< I think that's generally credited to Jaws.>> YMMV but nothing followed Jaws. Sure there were summer hits but nothing like the template that Uni created for Jaws. IMHO that didn't come in until WB released Batman in 1989. It may have been outgrossed by the earlier summer release of Last Crusade but Batman was the first major movie to fire on all cylinders across WB's entire portfolio. Then came the '90s and it was wave after wave of action movie driving summer box office.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <YMMV but nothing followed Jaws. Sure there were summer hits but nothing like the template that Uni created for Jaws.> Huh? Star Wars was a Memorial Day release two years later and played all summer. Followed by its sequels in 1980 and 1983, also late May releases. Jaws itself spawned sequels, released in the summer. Terrible, but certainly an attempt to cash in. (And Jaws 2 didn't do too badly.) Raiders of the Lost Ark was the big summer movie of 1981. Popcorn movie supreme. And spawned sequels. E.T. was the big summer hit of 1982. Jaws set the template well before Batman. After Jaws the studios all wanted a big summer blockbuster. Spielberg and Lucas delivered them, and others tried, but that was the template for summer popcorn flicks. This is pretty much the conventional wisdom: <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.dailynews.com/arts-and-entertainment/20150615/jaws-still-making-summer-blockbuster-history-40-years-later">http://www.dailynews.com/arts-...rs-later</a>
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Batman was the first major movie to fire on all cylinders across WB's entire portfolio<< Again, Universal had the Jaws films, plus they added Jaws to their famous movie studio tour. And even if you don't want to credit Jaws, then certainly Star Wars was well before Batman. Likewise, the Back to the Future trilogy (1985, 89, 90) and the theme park elements happened before 89's Batman, too. And Indy. Various horror franchises of the 80s.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Blockbusters have become such an integral part of the way we talk about films that it’s hard to believe they haven’t always been with us. But while there have always been big movies—lavish productions designed to draw crowds and command repeat business—the blockbuster as we know it has a definite start date: June 20, 1975. That’s when Jaws first hit screens in the middle of what was once, in the words of The Financial Times, a “low season” when the “only steady summer dollars came, in the U.S., from drive-in theaters.” It’s summer, after all; why go to the movies when you could be outside? Jaws changed that. Star Wars cemented that change.<< https://thedissolve.com/features/the-dissolve-canon/639-the-50-greatest-summer-blockbusters-part-1-50-31/
Originally Posted By hopemax If you Google "Origin of the summer blockbuster" this is the first hit (well, 2nd after the store) <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/93cdc4c2-9069-11df-ad26-00144feab49a.html">http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2...49a.html</a>
Originally Posted By Yookeroo This is the first I've ever heard of Batman getting the credit for this. <a target="blank" rel="nofollow" href="http://thedissolve.com/features/the-dissolve-canon/639-the-50-greatest-summer-blockbusters-part-1-50-31/">http://thedissolve.com/feature...1-50-31/</a> As much as I love Scott Pilgrim, isn't that movie lacking in "blockbuster"?
Originally Posted By Yookeroo You know, I think I may have heard Jaws given credit for this before Batman was ever released.
Originally Posted By dagobert Yesterday we have finally seen JW. It was not as bad as expected, but still not as good as The Lost World and by far not as good as JP. At least it was better than JP3. If the rumours about Chris Pratt being the new Indy are true, than I'm happy. After seeing JW, I think he would be a fantastic choice for the replacement of Ford.
Originally Posted By leemac <<It was not as bad as expected, but still not as good as The Lost World and by far not as good as JP. At least it was better than JP3.>> Really? I thought it was a lot better than Lost World. I need to rewatch JP3 soon - I don't remember it being that bad at all. No idea why.
Originally Posted By leemac <<Huh? Star Wars was a Memorial Day release two years later and played all summer.>> I'll concede as I don't think I'm getting my point across well in terms of defining a summer tentpole. However I thought no-one including Fox thought SW was going to succeed? I was all of 1 so I've no idea but I thought it was a big gamble with limited marketing? The SW universe doesn't resonate with me at all so I've no reference points.
Originally Posted By dagobert >>>Really? I thought it was a lot better than Lost World.<<< We watched JP2 on the weekend in preparation for JW and I really enjoyed it. I liked the idea with the second island and the greedy InGen corporation wanting to catch the dinos. JW was basically a remake of JP, with some details changed. I also didn't like that they borowed so heavily from JP, lie the scene in which Claire destarcts the T-Rex with the fire torch. And I really didn't like the kids, they were so unnecessary.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <I need to rewatch JP3 soon - I don't remember it being that bad at all. No idea why.> I thought it was okay. Not nearly as good as 1, but it had the virtue of brevity for one thing. Kind of does its job and gets out of the way. May sound like faint praise, but a lot of movies of this ilk (especially sequels) fail that test. <However I thought no-one including Fox thought SW was going to succeed?> Few expected it to be the phenomenon it was, but Fox expected at least modest success. It had quite a large promotion budget (it was the first movie I remember being advertised WELL before it opened - in fact, I remember seeing the first ad and them showing "Memorial Day" and me thinking "Memorial Day?? And they're advertising it ALREADY?") and Lucas's previous film was the mega-successful American Graffiti, so it wasn't exactly a "little" film with nothing behind it. And they had toys and everything ready to go too - they just didn't realize HOW big the demand would be.
Originally Posted By Yookeroo I think I remember full page Star Wars ads in the Calendar section of the L.A. Times before it opened.
Originally Posted By ecdc >>I'll concede as I don't think I'm getting my point across well in terms of defining a summer tentpole.<< No, I gotcha. I think you can make a case there's almost two different things being discussed here. There's the summer popcorn blockbuster, which absolutely started with Jaws and was followed up by Star Wars and a million other things. Then there's the concept of studios building almost their entire existence around one or two massive films, with release dates staked out a few years before. In fact, I'd argue we're probably talking about three separate events: the birth of the summer blockbuster, the birth of the summer tentpole (which Jaws and Star Wars were never really intended to be), and the birth of the modern franchise, where movies can bomb and simply be repackaged as "reboots" after only a couple of years (Spiderman, and now there's a...wait for it...SMURFS(!?!) reboot).
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA Maybe the distinction is: - A movie catching fire and becoming a blockbuster 'Jaws' 'Star Wars' 'Raiders' 'Pirates of the Caribbean' And... - Studios making a movie with the intent for it to become a blockbuster -- some work 'Avengers: Ultron' 'Jurassic World' - and some do not 'Tomorrowland' 'Cowboys and Aliens' 'Tron: Legacy'
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Would Star Trek be considered a tentpole franchise? It came out long after the TV series was gone and launched several movies and several TV series and spin offs, theme park tie-ins and has even been around long enough to be rebooted. I'm not quibbling that Batman '89 wasn't a tentpole franchise, just that I don't believe it was the first nor particularly unique in how it was handled. (Superman The Movie and its sequels for instance...)
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>the birth of the summer tentpole<< That happened for me at 6th grade camp thinking about Julie the lifeguard.
