Made by: Marlon Matthijssen Course: CKV Subject: Blockbuster Movies Class: H4B TTO

Words: +/- 2.000

It is unclear when the term blockbuster was first used in film, but it really started around the time Jaws was released. Before, it was used in the theatre business. With the term blockbuster a very popular or very successful movie is meant. Blockbusters have been around for a long time, and they always will. Firstly, I want to get rid of some confusion there may be about certain definitions. A sequel is the story that follows the story from the first movie. A prequel comes before the first movie; this does not have to be exactly before the first movie. It can also be, like Batman Begins, a story from someones childhood. An interquel is a story that comes between two separate movies. A spin-off is a story that can derive from a certain character. A remake can be a story that is exactly the same main story as another film in the series, but with different details or just the same movie but than in 3D. And a reboot is a story that discards much or all previous movies in the series and starts with new fresh ideas, like the upcoming movie The Amazing Spider-Man. A stand-alone sequel is a movie that is set in the same universe as its predecessor, but has nothing to do with that story and they can be seen in almost any order. There also are midquel, parallel and distant movies but I am not going into those, as they almost do not appear in film [1]. Confusion Movie titles can sometimes be very confusing. With some sequels you cannot see from the title which is the first and which the second movie. Most movies use simple numbering to make clear in what order they are supposed to be seen, like the The Godfather series. But others do not use numbers, they use subtitles and that is where it can get very confusing. The Matrix series is a good example of this. First there is The Matrix and there is The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, from these titles you cannot tell which the second and which the third part is. You can also not look at the year they were released since they were both released in 2003. There are also movies that start with numbering but then suddenly stop and start adding subtitles, this is even more confusing because it does not sounds as a sequel but rather as a spin-off. This can also be the other way around, like the Jurassic Park series.

The movie posters from all three the Jurassic Park movies.

Familiar Characters Sequels are very attractive for writer and producers, because the characters with their personalities already exist. It is much easier to make a new story for the same characters rather than a whole new movie, because the writers are already familiar with those characters. It is

easier for the actor or voice actors to get the characters persona right because they already have played them before. Also the fans are familiar with these characters and if the first movie has many fans, they are very likely to see the sequel as well. Less successful Sequels are critically, on average, less successful than their first part. This is also to blame on familiar characters. Creating a story is much easier if there already exist character. This makes is thus much harder to be original. Take for instance Ghostbusters, the first movie was given a rating of 94% and the second movie only 51%. This is because the first was very original and something like this had not been really done before. The second movie was released five later and then it was not new and innovative anymore. However, there are always writers who think of this and do their best to think of a story that is original and does not look too similar to its predecessor. Critics If a movie gets a bad rating from a critic, it does not necessarily mean that it is a bad movie. The public opinion is sometimes very different than what the critics say. If we look at Alvin and the Chipmunks, this movie only a rating of 26% from critics but from the audience 73% liked it. Sometimes critics forget that this is a kids & family movie and not a normal comedy for adult, this became very clear in one review I read [2]. Critics also look how the movie is made and other aspects that the audience does not really care about. All reviews are still opinions and that is different for everybody. Expenses A budget is one of the most important things for producing a movie. For the producers, the budget is an investment much like the stock market because they are not always certain if a lot of people will see their movie. There is more certainty with making a sequel, but like stated before this is not always true. The budget is spent in numerous different ways. A lot of people think about the actors, directors and maybe musicians. These are not the only ways the budget is spent. It is also spend on editors, who make the final version of the movie. The cameramen are, of course, also very important. The construction manager is in charge of making all the props and sets of the movie. There can also be animators, but this does not apply for all movies. Those are only just the toppeople, there are also many people working beneath those people. The budget is also spent on the materials the construction manager needs, costumes and renting off places where needs to be filmed. Public Attention There is one part of how the budget is spent which is not mentioned, marketing. It is essential for blockbuster movies. It is, of course, essential for every movie because if the audience does not know a movie exist, how will they see it? Marketing is so important that they generally use a third of the entire budget to spend on marketing.
A The Incredible Hulk Cinema display

Marketing is not only the movie trailer and advertisement in newspapers, magazines, bus stations and on the internet. It goes far deeper than a lot of people think, like advertisement on food products, cardboard displays at the cinema, billboard posters, radio and TV commercials, co-operation between various brands and even the advertisement on the popcorn bucket you get at the cinema. The holy grail of children movie marketing is getting your figures within a Happy Meal at MacDonalds. Also the rise of social media in the last few year has become very interesting for marketers. Some blockbuster movies even have their own Facebook or Twitter account.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is a very good movie but due to not spending a lot on marketing, the revenue was not as high as expected.

Big-name actors also attract a large audience, this is why in a lot of movies there is at least one famous actor given a leading role. People tend to go faster to a movie with big-name actors than to a movie with actors no one has ever heard of. Another important aspect of marketing is the time in which it is released, you are not going to release a summer movie in the winter. A lot of people tend to go in the summer more often to the cinema than elsewhere. This is because in the summer things look brighter, there is, usually, good weather and lots of people have vacation in the summer, especially students. December is another time where a lot of movies are released. It is the end of the year. It is Christmas. And a lot of people celebrate this and want to be together with friends and family and often they go to the movie, especially if there is a blockbuster movie. Time Movies need to be filmed and that takes a long time. More time than a lot of people might think. Filming itself, so with the actors, can take from a half year up to two years. It very depends on what kind of movie it is. A simple comedy does not take as long as an action movie. This is because an action movie is much harder to film because there may be certain effects that they want to recreate and not make with special effects. Or filming takes place on famous locations, then that place needs to be set off and that takes much longer than a filming on a set. Before the actual filming takes place, there needs to be a lot of preparation work. Aside from making the story or script, which can take writers months or even years to finish, it takes a

lot of time. Sometimes it can be years before filming finally happens even if they announced multiple years ago that they were going to film. This can be because of the script needs refining, sets need to be build, renting of places to film and an actor that they want for a sequel but the actors does not want to do a sequel [3]. Editing also takes a lot of time. Here the final product is made. Special effects are used, together with lighting, making the voices understandable and other points that need to be done. In this time, marketing also happens. It starts very subtle but if the release date is near, they follow what they had planned. Here was only meant live-action movies and not full-animation movies. Those take even longer. Preparation usually takes the same time. There is no filming needed but only editing, which can sometimes take multiple years. Tom Hanks said in an interview [4] that he was called every few months to lend his voice to Woody from the Toy Story series. Voice actors who do also do live-action acting, like Tom Hanks, find it harder to voice act and to normal act. This is because you do not see the actors face or other expressions the actor does with his body.

In summary, blockbuster movies, together with their following parts, will always be in the movie industry as we know it and also essential. Because these movies really attract people to go the theatre more often, especially now a lot of people illegally download their movies. Making a successful movie takes a lot of time and money, but if it eventually works, all the effort will pay off.

Footnotes:
[1] A midquel has a story that is set place within the time of another story. A parallel movie is usually has the same main events as another story, but are seen from another perspective, like Back to the Future Part II. And a distant movie has many years apart from the previous part, like the The Terminator series.

[2] Review from Alvin and the Chipmunks (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1184827alvin_and_the_chipmunks/comments/?reviewid=1781405): Filled with cheap slapstick, annoying high-pitched singing, and a variety of fart gags, all of which amused my daughter but not me. November 19, 2008 David Cornelius DVDTalk.com

[3] This is the case with Ghostbusters III because Bill Murray said that people do not want to see four old people catching ghosts. He is very against making the third movie, although there have been speculations about this. Murray said later in an interview on if he will be involved in the third part: "Well, it's a possibility...".

[4] Tom Hanks said this on The Graham Norton Show, Series 9 Episode 9 (2011). These were not his exact words but were very close to this.