Episode 4: Movies that Changed the Industry
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project did, that film nevertheless demonstrated two important points about advertising in the modern age: that it's possible to build up an entire back story around a movie before a it's even screened in a cinema, and that if would-be cinema-goers feel as though they've stumbled on a piece of information for themselves, they'll be more likely to talk about it and share it than if they've seen it loudly paraded through more conventional media. An early example of Viral Marketing. Repeated by the likes of The Dark Knight, The Amazing Spider-Man.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,271806_7,00.html
Avatar
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20336813,00.html
“The most important thing Avatar has done is to force the exhibition industry to get off the fence and to make a decision as whether to install digital projection, and more importantly digital 3D projection.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/6840357/Avatar-changing-the-face-of-film-for-ever.html
Batman
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05/07/how-burtons-batman-changed-hollywood
“Batman was not the first summer blockbuster (that honour goes to Jaws), but it was certainly the first king of the opening weekend. After a string of subsequent big three day openers, Hollywood would focus on a film’s short-term success almost exclusively. Nowadays, for better or worse, an opening weekend will make or break a film.” It made 40.4 million opening weekend (inflation: $77.5 million today)
“The subtlety Keaton brought to Bruce Wayne showed 'serious actors' - especially those not blessed by the god of chiseled jaws - that superhero roles were accessible and even desirable, and proved to directors that casting against type was viable.”
http://flavorwire.com/463615/how-batman-changed-the-summer-blockbuster-forever
“In that pre-Internet age, word was that Bat-fans were buying tickets to movies they didn’t even want to see, just to get a look at the teaser; once it unspooled, they’d head out of the auditorium.”
“crossed $150 million in nineteen days, and told Hollywood that short-term profitability was a possibility. Eventually, it would become the only goal.”
Toy Story
http://archive.wired.com/geekdad/2010/11/15-years-ago-toy-story-changed-animated-films-forever/
http://www.ricestandard.org/toy-story/
“It was faster and cheaper than traditional animation. In an article about the film, Entertainment Weekly noted that Toy Story required 3/4 of the budget and 1/8 of the animation staff as its predecessor The Lion King, which premiered in 1994.”
Jaws
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-is-jaws-the-most-inf_b_1794553.html
“Jaws pioneered the wide release approach to distribution which -- combined with TV ads, another major innovation, given their frequency and effectiveness -- is the template for most studio films today.”
“In short, jaws changed the way movies are made, when they're released, how they're released, how they are marketed and sold, how they're packaged for home entertainment and how they're remembered online.”
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hollywood/business/jaws.html
"The concept was that instead of going out in a few number of theaters in a city and then expanding more and more and more, if you went and advertised a movie on network television and successfully interested an audience in that movie, you could open everywhere at the same time"
Star Wars
http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1625074_1625073_1625054,00.html
more big movies today are made from comic books than from best-selling novels.
“Lucas created a small research company to find new ways to edit sound and sound effects, and to make composite FX shots. From that company came many of the innovations all movie technicians use today. Then Lucas sold the company to Steve Jobs (Pixar).”
Jurassic Park
http://www.wired.com/2014/06/jurassic-park-cgi/
Amazing video!
Pulp Fiction
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/pulp-fiction-quentin-tarantino-hit-changed-movie-making-in-hollywood/
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20140514-how-pulp-fiction-shook-up-film
“He drew from a lot of influences that were already out there – foreign cinema and niche filmmaking,” he says. “But to audiences it was the way he had compiled it together, people had never seen that before.
Other Links:
Entertainment Weekly List:
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20458966,00.html#20900231
