Cinema has changed a lot since it came into existence. Blockbuster movies have come a long way from the golden age of Hollywood classics to the modern, high spectacle league. In this article, we uncover the evolution of blockbuster films- with a focus on major points in history where Hollywood had to adapt.
Golden Age of Hollywood (1930s-1950s)
The golden age of Hollywood – roughly the 1930s to the ’50s – is considered by many as the dawn of blockbuster cinema. This is the time when there were many Idealistic films and known stars of the film industry started reflecting their glamour. Films such as “Gone with the Wind” (1939), Casablanca, (1942) and Ben-Hur (1959) pushed up storytelling to a new level of production values; these spawned blockbuster status for them. This era was dominated by the studio system, with major studios including MGM, Warner Bros., and Paramount owning or controlling all aspects of production from script to distribution. This made it feasible to maintain large-scale high production value sets and acts by top-rate talent in major budget movies. They were more about grand, epic storytelling that interested the masses enough to make them go back repeatedly.
New Hollywood (1960s-1980s)
The 1960s and 1970s saw a seismic shift in the film industry, historically referred to as New Hollywood. This newfound group was coming of age during a time when established modes of storytelling were being upended by new and young voices who wanted to try their hand at the narrative. But filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, and Francis Ford Coppola broke open the possibilities of what studios’ potboilers could be.
The opening sentence of the piece. I know that it is conventional wisdom to say that JAWS as a whole made people realize what could happen when everything went right and formed more than anything else one template for how blockbusters were created. Its popularity created a formula of opening wide in the summer and garnering massive advertising. That was literally followed by catalogue entries for George Lucas’s “Star Wars” (1977) making the world sit up and take notice of special effects like never before, paving way also to merchandising explosion.
New Hollywood also marked the emergence of auteur directors, who were able to make movies on their own terms. This era has been valuable and ground-breaking in the market, contributing to some of Hollywood’s most awed/awarded pictures at any point made such as The Godfather (1972), Rocky (1976), and E.T.742; Extra-Terrestrial 947.
Blockbuster Boom (1990s-2000s)
The 1990s and early 2000s were a high point for blockbuster production, owing as much to improvements in special effects technology and affordability of CGI (creating computer graphics) than natural development or artistic ambition. It is an age of CGI (computer-generated imagery) and digital filmmaking just coming into being, giving filmmakers the ability to produce visuals on a grand scale never before seen. With James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Titanic (1997) began being used in more extensive forms for storytelling and immersive effects. At the time of its release, “Titanic” became both highest-grossing film ever made until it was surpassed by Cameron’s 2009 science fiction epic. The popularity of the superhero genre also increased during this time. Without a doubt, Tim Burton’s “Batman” (1989) got the ball rolling here, but it was not until 2000 Monkeywrench Dynamics released Fox Entertainment Group came up with “X-Men” and two years later Sam Raimi to Disney redefined Marvel Comics’ Spider-Man as an iconic figure last seen trying-and failing-to stem from exploitation-driven peak) that superheroes became ubiquitous robust action queens at box office multiplexes arena. These films underpinned the foundations of what would become known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and their competitor, The DC Extended Universe (DCEU), which in turn world became powerhouses at the movies that systematically overran our theaters for decades to come.
Blockbusters in the Modern Era (2010s-Present)
With this, we come to the modern age of blockbuster filmmaking: two-thousand-and-teens and beyond – an era typified by franchises on top with streaming services abounding. The ongoing interconnected storytelling worlds of the likes of MCU, DCEU, and Star Wars are now key to scoring big at the box office. Released in 2012, Marvel Studios’ The Avengers was fundamentally game-changing: it demonstrated the feasibility of shared cinematic universes and sparked a cycle of interconnected movies culminating with leading to box office behemoth “Avengers: Endgame” (2019). This era also witnessed the comeback of friendly oldies as Jurassic Park, Star wars and Fast & Furious.
How Technology Plays Its Role in the Modern Day Blockbusters
The former attributes themselves to general evolution of civilization while the latter is obviously due to technological advancement which has altered modern blockbuster movies. The CGI, Motion Capture, and Digital filmmaking have allowed the filmmakers to broaden their horizon of imagination that takes the audience beyond what they can think. Film-makers discovered that immersion and superior visual quality counted more: witness the likes of Avatar (2009) and Inception(2010). James Cameron’s “Avatar” employed cutting-edge 3D tech and doing mo-cap to realize the lush, alien landscape of Pandora. Yes, the highest-grossing film of all time is a fact that speaks to the power and potential it unlocked through technological innovation in filmmaking. In the same way that Christopher Nolan’s Inception used elaborate special effects to create a world within a dream, hooking viewers with its complex plot and dazzling action. Not only has digital filmmaking allowed for anyone, especially independent filmmakers to create amazing films without breaking the bank. The success of which has since seen a resurgence in independent blockbusters such as “District 9” (2009) and most recently with the astonishing return to form for George Miller, who managed decades later an even more memorable course correction with “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015).
Global Markets Effect
The film industry has changed the most over Hollywood and in particular how this changes blockbuster movies. Studios have begun taking the global market into consideration during both production and marketing of their films that has resulted in movies appealing to a wider audience. The Chinese market, in particular is increasingly becoming make and break for many blockbusters. That could explain the overlap between what exterior pundits might condescendingly call popcorn flicks with less than zero artistic merit and movies in which residents of China, Russia or Japan simply make up a majority of box-office earnings. Films like “Transformers: Age Of Extinction” (2014) and ‘The Fate Of The Furious’ (2017), have been designed to feature story elements that jive better with audiences outside America — leading these suckfests many successful runs at cashing out attendees around this great big world of ours. The practice has bolstered the arrival of multi-ethnic and international themes in blockbuster films, increasing inclusion into blockbusters while catering to a worldwide audience.
A Streaming Service to Rule Them All
Last Updated: 7th November, 2020 The emergence of streaming services including Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ has truly changed the landscape for blockbuster movie-viewing. It allows the filmmaker a new channel of distribution and us viewers access to some great content from the coziness of our living rooms. Even the advent of streaming services that are now producing their own mega-budget movies (e.g., Netflix’s Bright [2017] and The Irishman [2019]). These films have seen substantial audiences and positive reviews, even as they forced a change in how we view new theatrical releases. The COVID-19 pandemic only hastened this trend, with major studios using the virus as an opportunity to make their megabudget films available for streaming and theatrical viewing simultaneously.
What’s Next For The Age Of Blockbuster Films
While the entertainment industry changes, with it goes the unpredictable fate of big-budget movies in a future that can only hope to be as bright. Incorporating new technologies as virtual reality (VR) and AR can be inviting to develop a more immersive movie experience. Early examples of how VR can change Hollywood storytelling come through offerings such as “The Martian VR Experience” and “CocoVR.” That trend of interlocking cinematic universes will also continue, it seems like as studios try to copy Marvel’s success and go for long-term franchise building. This will create even more ambitious crossovers than the current Crossover Royale and multi-film story arcs that require engagement over a few weeks to an entire year from its audiences. There have been signs from the likes of HBO and Netflix, as well in how audiences’ behavior has changed; that streaming services are going to change all this. With the landscape shifting, this may mean that studios will need to adapt by exploring new distribution strategies and encouraging innovation in storytelling.
Conclusion
The way we see them today, the history of blockbusters reveals how an industry already posted on tumbling dice can keep leaping out into new shapes. Each era has brought new innovations, be it through technological breakthroughs, storytelling developments, or a change in audience tastes. The coming years will witness the heavy hitters of cinema continuing to reign tall, drawing crowds for epic storytelling and stunning imagery. The story of blockbusters may be in mid-franchise, but Chapter 3 is shaping up to be as thrilling and arresting as Chapters 1 or 2.
