The Summer Blockbuster Movies
2023 has completely changed the summer blockbuster game. With the movies “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” breaking viewing charts, the concept of a summer blockbuster is gaining more attention than ever before. However, the phenomenon did not begin last year. It has a long history in Hollywood.
Before we get into the summer blockbuster, we need to first understand what a blockbuster is. The word first became popular after World War II which was originally used to describe bombs that leveled entire towns. The word later on began to be used to describe movies that do extremely well in the box office and stand out in American culture. In the summer of 1975, Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” was released. Spielberg’s movie was considered the first ever blockbuster. During this time, movies typically would release around Christmas because theaters would be cooler, but with air conditioning becoming widely available, many theaters would stay cool during summer as well. “Jaws” was originally meant to be released in winter, but because of delays in filming, it was released during summer. The introduction of air conditioning to theaters and the success of “Jaws” led many other filmmakers to release high budget movies during summer. This leads us to today, when the summer blockbuster is incredibly common. Some of the most famous and popular summer blockbuster movies are “Alien” (1979) “The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.”, “E.T.” (1982) “A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape from Earth and return to his home planet.”, “Top Gun” (1986) “As students at the United States Navy's elite fighter weapons school compete to be best in the class, one daring young pilot learns a few things from a civilian instructor that are not taught in the classroom.”, and “The Lion King” (1994) “Lion prince Simba and his father are targeted by his bitter uncle, who wants to ascend the throne himself.”.
The ever changing Hollywood has one thing that stays the same: the summer blockbuster, and its history prevails to this day.
