Summer Blockbusters

By jakesmith98

  • Jaws is released.

    Jaws is released.
    Event: Jaws became the first summer blockbuster, earning more than $470 million while in theaters.
    Impact: Hollywood began to take notice of an increase in sales during the summer. The blockbuster was born and studios started planning their yearly schedules around a huge release on July 4th.

  • Blockbuster describes a movie.

    Blockbuster describes a movie.
    Event: "Blockbuster" is first used to describe Jaws when the movie makes a huge impression.
    Impact: A genre is born and named for years to come.

  • Star Wars becomes the highest-grossing summer movie.

    Star Wars becomes the highest-grossing summer movie.
    Event: Summer blockbusters became a real phenomenon when another film became the highest-grossing summer movie ever.
    Impact: Hollywood began producing big-budget action/adventure movies very fast to capitalize on the phenomenon.

  • Summer movie attendance reaches a record low.

    Summer movie attendance reaches a record low.
    Event: The worst summer blockbuster season ever (adjusting for inflation), with only $154 million in sales.
    Impact: Movies switched from police to heroes. The top-earning movie the summer of 1987 was Beverly Hills Cop 2. No other top summer movie has featured cops since then.

  • Batman creates a genre.

    Batman creates a genre.
    Event: Batman becomes the first superhero movie to dominate the summer box office.
    Impact: Every summer since 1989, superhero movies have come out, leading to The Dark Knight, The Avengers, and Guardians of the Galaxy.

  • Shrek makes animation history.

    Shrek makes animation history.
    Event: Shrek became the first fully animated summer blockbuster ever in the summer of 2001.
    Impact: The impact of digital animation was seen by producers, so more and more animated features were put into production, leading to the success of Shrek 2 in 2004 and Toy Story 3 in 2010.

  • Bloodless murder increases.

    Bloodless murder increases.
    Event: According to tags of summer movies on IMDb, violence is being sanitized to keep up with MPAA ratings. These rules aren’t released, but showing blood usually earns a movie an R.
    Impact: Blockbusters will do anything to get a PG-13, meaning finding new ways to kill people.

  • The Conjuring beats blockbusters.

    The Conjuring beats blockbusters.
    Event: Traditional blockbusters like RIPD, After Earth, The Lone Ranger, and Pacific Rim earn less than expected, while The Conjuring more than doubled its budget in a weekend.
    Impact: Consumers’ tastes are changing, leading to the summer of blockbuster fatigue. Studios start to notice there is less money in explosions than in indies.

  • Earth to Echo and Deliver Us From Evil open in 3000+ theaters, earn less than $10 million.

    Earth to Echo and Deliver Us From Evil open in 3000+ theaters, earn less than $10 million.
    Event: A movie in over 3,000 theaters had never before grossed less than $10 million before. Two movies did it on a holiday weekend.
    Impact: Hollywood is funding the wrong types of movies. Critical darlings are succeeding while popcorn movies are failing economically.

  • Comedy dominates at the Summer box office.

    Comedy dominates at the Summer box office.
    Event: 22 Jump Street earned just under $200 million, Neighbors earned $150 million, both making back much more than their budgets.
    Impact: Comedies are the future of summer blockbusters, studios are destined to lose money with most of the movies they already have in production.