How do you define "blockbuster"?
06-10-24 | 12:31 PM
#1
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DVD Talk Gold Edition
How do you define "blockbuster"?
This question popped into my head while reading another thread wherein two movies were called blockbusters. This surprised me, as I couldn't recall either being too successful.
So, assuming a film is released in theaters and isn't a streaming-only situation where the "true" viewership will never be known, where is the line between Blockbuster and Non-Blockbuster? I'm not even sure $200M gets you there with inflation, but maybe it's enough?
So, assuming a film is released in theaters and isn't a streaming-only situation where the "true" viewership will never be known, where is the line between Blockbuster and Non-Blockbuster? I'm not even sure $200M gets you there with inflation, but maybe it's enough?
06-10-24 | 12:40 PM
#2
DVD Talk Limited Edition
Re: How do you define "blockbuster"?
Revenue is at least double the film's budget (including marketing) + pop culture water cooler talk = my definition of a blockbuster
For example (and I dislike the movie) - Napoleon Dynamite
For example (and I dislike the movie) - Napoleon Dynamite
- $400,000 budget (from Box Office Mojo, probably doesn't include marketing costs)
- $46,118,097 Worldwide Gross
- Definitely had pop culture water cooler talk back in 2004
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story (06-11-24)
06-10-24 | 12:45 PM
#3
DVD Talk Legend
Re: How do you define "blockbuster"?
$300,000,000 @ US domestic box office
06-10-24 | 12:55 PM
#4
Administrator
Re: How do you define "blockbuster"?
Blockbusters are a state of mind
-Barbie: intended, successful blockbuster
-Furiosa: intended, but failed (in terms of revenue) blockbuster
-Paranormal Activity: surprise blockbuster
It's a combination of studio intention as a tentpole, in-theater gross, and cultural cache
-Barbie: intended, successful blockbuster
-Furiosa: intended, but failed (in terms of revenue) blockbuster
-Paranormal Activity: surprise blockbuster
It's a combination of studio intention as a tentpole, in-theater gross, and cultural cache
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story (06-11-24)
06-10-24 | 01:41 PM
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06-10-24 | 01:56 PM
#6
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Re: How do you define "blockbuster"?
Blockbuster meant actual lines, so I'll go with actual lines.
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06-10-24 | 02:37 PM
#7
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: How do you define "blockbuster"?
It's an arbitrary description used by the marketing departments, media and PR agencies. Movies should have been judged by the number of tickets sold but instead they used dollars at the box office which can be easily skewed and manipulated as required. Inflation calculations are also difficult to determine accurately.
A movie in New York City might be $17 a ticket whereas in Smalltown, USA the price might be $9.75 for the same film on the same opening night.
A movie in New York City might be $17 a ticket whereas in Smalltown, USA the price might be $9.75 for the same film on the same opening night.
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IBJoel (06-10-24)
06-10-24 | 02:39 PM
#8
Re: How do you define "blockbuster"?
Correct. Jaws, The Exorcist, Star Wars, literally lines around the block. With that huge of an audience, the top-grossing and pop-cultural status came naturally.
It's one of those terms that may not work anymore, like when I say I'm setting the DVR to "tape my show".
It's one of those terms that may not work anymore, like when I say I'm setting the DVR to "tape my show".
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06-10-24 | 03:47 PM
#9
DVD Talk Legend
Re: How do you define "blockbuster"?
How much a movie cost to make is not a factor because it was never a measure of profitability, just raw box office dollars, and the US is the only market that matters. If you want to categorize a film as a blockbuster based on the international box office, then you have to call it a "world-wide blockbuster."
06-11-24 | 05:50 AM
#10
DVD Talk Legend
Re: How do you define "blockbuster"?
A movie my elderly mother brings up is a blockbuster. Dune part 2 has been the only blockbuster this year.
06-11-24 | 05:57 AM
#11
Re: How do you define "blockbuster"?
Although the meaning has changed over the decades, as I recall, "blockbuster" used to refer to those big Hollywood epics that cost millions, hopefully made millions and played reserved seat runs in the largest downtown movie palaces before spreading out, gradually, to neighborhood "showcase" theaters in the outer boroughs and finally the 3rd run "nabes," neighborhood theaters with lower prices and battered, sometimes shortened prints. Films like QUO VADIS (1951), THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956), BEN-HUR (1959), THE LONGEST DAY (1962), LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962), SPARTACUS (1960), EL CID (1961), IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963), HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1963) and CLEOPATRA (1963).
Then in the 1970s, "blockbuster" shifted to become those films which played thousands of theaters at a time and were quick to capitalize on immediate audience interest and make lots of money much quicker than the epics. These were more genre entertainments rather than historical spectacles, so we got LOVE STORY, THE GODFATHER, THE EXORCIST, JAWS, STAR WARS, and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. Four of these were based on best-selling novels.
Nowadays, with $200 million budgets and wide runs the norm for franchise-spawned CGI-created action and fantasy films, it's taken on yet a new meaning.
Then in the 1970s, "blockbuster" shifted to become those films which played thousands of theaters at a time and were quick to capitalize on immediate audience interest and make lots of money much quicker than the epics. These were more genre entertainments rather than historical spectacles, so we got LOVE STORY, THE GODFATHER, THE EXORCIST, JAWS, STAR WARS, and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. Four of these were based on best-selling novels.
Nowadays, with $200 million budgets and wide runs the norm for franchise-spawned CGI-created action and fantasy films, it's taken on yet a new meaning.
06-11-24 | 08:28 AM
#12
Thread Starter
DVD Talk Gold Edition
Re: How do you define "blockbuster"?
Correct. Jaws, The Exorcist, Star Wars, literally lines around the block. With that huge of an audience, the top-grossing and pop-cultural status came naturally.
It's one of those terms that may not work anymore, like when I say I'm setting the DVR to "tape my show".
It's one of those terms that may not work anymore, like when I say I'm setting the DVR to "tape my show".
06-11-24 | 09:07 AM
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Re: How do you define "blockbuster"?
Then in the 1970s, "blockbuster" shifted to become those films which played thousands of theaters at a time and were quick to capitalize on immediate audience interest and make lots of money much quicker than the epics. These were more genre entertainments rather than historical spectacles, so we got LOVE STORY, THE GODFATHER, THE EXORCIST, JAWS, STAR WARS, and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND.
06-11-24 | 09:49 AM
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Re: How do you define "blockbuster"?
the movie they make big.
06-11-24 | 12:23 PM
#15
Re: How do you define "blockbuster"?
Interesting. On Wikipedia, it describes the origins of "blockbuster" coming from comparison to arial bombing, specifically for a film about bombers:
The term began to appear in the American press in the early 1940s,[1] referring to the blockbuster bombs, aerial munitions capable of destroying a whole block of buildings.[2] Its first known use in reference to films was in May 1943, when advertisements in Variety[3] and Motion Picture Herald described the RKO film, Bombardier, as "The block-buster of all action-thrill-service shows!" Another trade advertisement in 1944 boasted that the war documentary, With the Marines at Tarawa, "hits the heart like a two ton blockbuster."
...Another explanation is that trade publications would often advertise the popularity of a film by including illustrations showing long queues often extending around the block, but in reality the term was never used in this way. The term was actually first coined by publicists who drew on readers' familiarity with the blockbuster bombs, drawing an analogy with the bomb's huge impact. The trade press subsequently appropriated the term as short-hand for a film's commercial potential. Throughout 1943 and 1944 the term was applied to films such as Bataan, No Time for Love and Brazil.[4]
...Another explanation is that trade publications would often advertise the popularity of a film by including illustrations showing long queues often extending around the block, but in reality the term was never used in this way. The term was actually first coined by publicists who drew on readers' familiarity with the blockbuster bombs, drawing an analogy with the bomb's huge impact. The trade press subsequently appropriated the term as short-hand for a film's commercial potential. Throughout 1943 and 1944 the term was applied to films such as Bataan, No Time for Love and Brazil.[4]
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IBJoel (06-11-24)
06-11-24 | 12:39 PM
#16
Administrator
Re: How do you define "blockbuster"?
