Sequels and Blockbusters

Sequels and Blockbusters

Sequels and Blockbusters
1)In the years following 1975 and the end of the Hollywood Renaissance,
2) movies began to earn higher profits and were designed to make money.
3)To reduce financial risk, the studios produced sequels, remakes, and blockbusters.
4)These films recycled familiar material to reach a desired target audience and
    earn its repeat business.
5)Jaws made money faster than any movie since Gone with the Wind
    because it understood its primary audience (teenagers and young adults).

Journalist Kate Erbland explains the economic history of Jaws:

1) "Made for less than $9 million, Jaws went on to make over $470 million in global returns,
    including a $260 million domestic take that earned it the top spot at the box office in 1975.
2) The film toppled other high-powered hits like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and
     Dog Day Afternoon, all huge moneymakers that were decidedly non-blockbuster in nature
     (at least, as we currently know the term).
3) Jaws was the first feature film to break $235 million in domestic returns (in 1973, The
    Exorcist became the first film to break $230, and it too spawned a unique path for future
    horror offerings).
4) Nearly half a century after its release, it still ranks in the all-time top 100;
    adjusted for inflation, it ranks at number 7.

Spielberg’s big hit (Jaws)

1) his first and obviously not his last —
2) paved the way for the massive tentpole features that
    now dominate the summer season,
3) huge earners that capture both the zeitgeist and hefty
    audiences.
4)Moreover, the film was bolstered by a modern, forward-thinking marketing campaign that
    still influences the way movies are sold today.
5) Universal spent nearly $2 million to market the movie, plenty of which went to utilizing
    television marketing in its earliest stages, using a slew of prime-time network spots that
    introduced the film to a huge audience in nifty 30-second blocks.
6)Ads played up the John Williams score and the now-iconic imagery of Jaws emerging from
   the water.
7)There were talk show tours (including appearances that dated more than eight months before
    the film hit theaters) and
8) marketing tie-ins,
9) a big push towards the readership of the original novel (including a brand new cover art that
    reflected the poster and other stills) and
10)a number of exceedingly well-received test screenings.

Jaws
1) hit theaters with not just a ton of hype, but actual recognition of the property.
2) Audiences were excited about things they already knew about,
3) plots they could read about in Peter Benchley’s book, and
4) characters they were already familiar with —
5) just like today’s movies that now arrive in theaters after massive marketing blitzes that
   show off huge bits of material before films even open.

Kickstarted a wave of high-earing features:
1) But while Jaws helped kickstart a wave of high-earning features
     with studio power behind them,
2) it didn’t do it at the expense of quality,
3) a lesson that many modern blockbusters still need to learn.
4)The film debuted to mostly positive reviews,
5) many of which rightly hailed Spielberg as the next big thing in major moviemaking.
6) Jaws was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture,
     and went on to win three of them.
7) The film showed that movies could make money and appeal broadly and still be of high
     quality and craft; those things didn’t have to be mutually exclusive."

Film vlogger Matt Draper created the following video essay on the legacy of Jaws and the Hollywood blockbuster.

Jaws - Defining the Summer Blockbuster (Matt Draper, 2017):

Jaws (1975)

Click Here for video essay Click Here

"popcorn film" Paragon of blockbuster filmmaking. High concept visual effects.
Characters more likeable, an affair eliminated... intimate focus on protagonists
S - working man hero - common decency - appealing. quaint life in a small town. 
character focused scenes -- off kilter characters...character development Amity Island. Cal Gottlieb to improve the film script. should have been PG13 not PG. bloody limgs. Shark vision -- so many shots just on legs... John wiliams 2 note score. 
Delicately humanly moments - interspersed with horror. Not a horror film but more - adventure.  Transition into 2nd half.... mystery pulled back -- 3 actors -- 2 old sailors and the main protagonist. 

Summer became the time for big blockbusters.... 

influence on film creation. This is a  better type of blockbuster...no excuse for being junkfood - like Transformers studio's who shell out a popular brand not well thought out film. 

max max fury road, star wars, jurassic park, the dark knight - high concept - high appeal and best as it could be. 

Jaws legacy can be seen in the best and brightest films that captivate the whole world... and as for Jaws itself...it remains and will continue to remain one of the classic masterpieces of blockbuster filmmaking.