An introduction to the genre of
Blockbuster in film.
I
would like you to think in your table groups
about what movies are blockbusters and why
you believe this is so
 We
will then write on the board some
responses until we can narrow down a
working definition of the term.

Blockbuster:

Blockbuster, as applied to film or theatre,
denotes a very popular or successful production.
The term blockbuster in film generally speaks to
the size of both the narrative and the scale of
production.

Do you agree with this definition? Why or why
not?

What do you think the first blockbuster might
have been?
 In
1975 the usage of 'blockbuster' for films
coalesced around Steven Spielberg's Jaws,
and became perceived as something new: a
cultural phenomenon, a fast-paced exciting
entertainment, almost a genre. Audiences
interacted with such films, talked about
them afterwards, and went back to see them
again just for the thrill.

Before Jaws set box office records in the
summer of 1975, successful films such as Quo
Vadis (1951 film), The Ten Commandments (1956
film), Gone With the Wind, and Ben-Hur were
called blockbusters based purely on the amount
of money earned at the box office.

Jaws is regarded as the first film of New
Hollywood's 'blockbuster era' with its current
meaning, implying a film genre. It also
consolidated the 'summer blockbuster' trend,
through which major film studios and distributors
planned their entire annual marketing strategy
around a big release by July 4 (Northern
Hemisphere summer)
 After
the success of Jaws, many Hollywood
producers attempted to create similar "event
films" with wide commercial appeal. Film
companies began green lighting increasingly
high budgeted films and relying extensively
on massive advertising blitzes leading up to
their theatrical release. Spielberg and his
fellow filmmaker George Lucas (whose 1977
film Star Wars was the most successful film
of that decade) are the film-makers most
closely associated with the beginning of the
blockbuster era.

Although the term 'blockbuster' was originally
defined by audience response, after a while the
term came to mean a high-budget production
aimed at mass markets, with associated
merchandising, on which the financial fortunes
of film studio or distributor depended. It was
defined by its production budget and marketing
effort rather than its success and popularity, and
was essentially a tag which a film's marketing
gave itself. In this way it became possible to
refer to films such as Hollywood's Godzilla (1998)
or Last Action Hero as both a blockbuster and a
box office disaster.

Eventually, the focus on creating blockbusters grew
so intense that a backlash occurred, with critics and
some film-makers decrying the prevalence of a
"blockbuster mentality" and lamenting the death of
the author-driven, 'more artistic' small-scale films of
the New Hollywood era. This view is taken, for
example, by film journalist Peter Biskind, who wrote
that all studios wanted was another Jaws, and as
production costs rose, they were less willing to take
risks and therefore based blockbusters on the 'lowest
common denominators' of the mass market.

An opposing view is taken by film critic Tom Shone,
who considers that Lucas and Spielberg's reinvention
of blockbusters as fast-paced entertainment
reinvigorated the US film industry and deserves
greater artistic and critical recognition.

The biggest blockbuster ever made was Avatar, production cost
$500 million, and it earned more than $2.5 BILLION in theatres,
after it came out in the summer of 2009. No other movie has
ever earned as much as Avatar did in movie theatres.

Avatar has its own Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter pages. That’s
getting to be standard these days. The 18,000-follower Twitter
account has tellingly not been updated since a few days after the
film’s theatrical release; once the word was out, the job was
done. While it was active, though, its followers would retweet
updates to their followers, who (if interested) would do the
same, spreading the word all over the web. The Facebook Page is
even more impressive, with over 700,000 fans.

Facebook’s updated Page features make it the place to be for
brands seeking exposure. The site allows brands to push updates
to fans. Those fans see the updates in their personal news feeds,
and they can then share them with others, just like on Twitter.
Avatar’s Facebook Page is also where the MTV-hosted live
webcast was hosted.
 According
to research sociologist Brian Uzzi,
Ph.D., of Northwestern University in
Evanston, Ill., constant chatter about a
movie, called movie buzz, can help a film
become a blockbuster hit.
 Movie
buzz creates a "tipping point." This is
the point where so much has been heard
about a movie, it hits a threshold, and the
likelihood of seeing it sky-rockets. "Once you
hit the tipping point, everyone wants to go
and it acts like a blockbuster," Dr. Uzzi said.
 To
ensure this tipping point occurs,
marketing strategists use social networking,
the success of this method was proven with
the recently released Avatar, who flooded
Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace with Avatar
related tid bits to encourage buzz.

for blockbuster movies, the opening pretty much determines how
it will perform over its entire theatre lifetime, as such it lends
support to the classic "blockbuster" strategy of opening the movie
simultaneously on as many screens as possible -- a strategy that
has been used since Jaws.

Broken Hearts. each billion-dollar film included some form of
epic, potentially doomed romance: Lifelong partners are
separated forever ("Knight"), lovers of different races are longestranged ("King"), aspiring pirates are destined to be apart for
years ("Pirates") and a brief romantic dalliance resonates decades
later ("Titanic"). Explosions thrill half of the crowd; the
emotional ripples affect the other half. "Teenagers with lots of
disposable income kept coming back to swoon over Leo DiCaprio,"
says Thilk. "That comes into play to a great extent."

They all have special effects, swordplay. They're not the
most subtle examples of emotive storytelling you can find.
That's why they end up being big box-office winners
overseas - an explosion looks the same on a Japanese
movie screen as it does on an American movie screen.

Never underestimate the appeal of a Happy Meal toy.
While ancillary products like soundtrack CDs, book tie-ins,
and toys don't contribute directly to box-office dollars,
they're indirectly crucial to success. Even if a young kid
doesn't know what the movie is, he'll get the toy and then
turn to his mum and say, 'I want to see that movie!'.
Product marketing is a component of the overall marketing
mix
of
any
blockbuster.
 You
are to watch the original blockbuster
Jaws, you are then to get into groups that I
will choose of 5 – 6, and write a 10 or 12
scene, depending on your group size,
blockbuster script, it needs to incorporate all
the aspects of blockbuster that you have
learnt here (access the PowerPoint from your
wiki), as well as a one page document
outlining your plans for media distribution
before and during the screening of your film.
 You will be assessed on 6. Plan, organise and
complete activities and 9. Negotiate, reflect
upon and take responsibility for learning.
 Things
to cover:
 Genre – action/romance/drama – a
combination
 Actors – your first page needs to include
what actors will play which parts and why
they were selected
 Setting – each new scene means a new
setting, explain the setting in detail
 Directions – ensure you include acting and
general scene directions.
 Beginning – middle – end – blockbusters
follow this traditional plotline
 Look
online for some example scripts from
movies, this will help you with your setting.
 Each group member is to write two scenes
themselves but they have to fit in with the
story, so that needs to be decided before
anyone goes off alone, and may mean that
further editing is required when you are all
finished, to ensure there are no continuity
errors.
 Each scene needs to be 500 words minimum.
 GOODLUCK!