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Ablockbuster is a work of entertainment—typically used to describe afeature film produced by amajor film studio, but also other media—that is highly popular and financially successful. The term has also come to refer to any large-budget productionintended for "blockbuster" status, aimed at mass markets with associated merchandising, sometimes on a scale that meant the financial fortunes of a film studio or a distributor could depend on it.
The term began to appear in the American press in the early 1940s,[1] referring to theblockbuster bombs, aerialmunitions capable of destroying a whole block of buildings.[2] Its first known use in reference to films was in May 1943, when advertisements inVariety[3] andMotion Picture Herald described theRKO 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."
Several theories have been put forward for the origin of the term in a film context. One explanation pertains to the practice of "block booking" whereby a studio would sell a package of films to theaters, rather than permitting them to select which films they wanted to exhibit. However, this practice was outlawed in 1948 before the term became common parlance; while pre-1948 high-grossing big-budget spectacles may be retroactively labelled "blockbusters," this is not how they were known at the time. 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 asBataan,No Time for Love andBrazil.[4]
The term fell out of usage in the aftermath ofWorld War II but was revived in 1948 byVariety in an article about big budget films. By the early 1950s the term had become standardised within the film industry and the trade press to denote a film that was large in spectacle, scale and cost, that would go on to achieve a high gross. In December 1950 theDaily Mirror predicted thatSamson and Delilah would be "a box office block buster", and in November 1951Variety describedQuo Vadis as "a b.o. blockbuster [...] right up there withBirth of a Nation andGone With the Wind for boxoffice performance [...] a super-spectacle in all its meaning".[4]
According to Stephen Prince,Akira Kurosawa's 1954 filmSeven Samurai had a "racing, powerful narrative engine, breathtaking pacing, and sense-assaulting visual style" (what he calls a "kinesthetic cinema" approach to "action filmmaking and exciting visual design") that was "the clearest precursor" and became "the model for" the "visceral" Hollywood blockbuster "brand of moviemaking" that emerged in the 1970s. According to Prince, Kurosawa became "a mentor figure" to a generation of emerging American filmmakers who went on to develop the Hollywood blockbuster format in the 1970s, such asSteven Spielberg,George Lucas,Martin Scorsese andFrancis Ford Coppola.[5]
In 1975, the usage of "blockbuster" for films coalesced aroundSteven Spielberg'sJaws. It was perceived as a new cultural phenomenon: fast-paced, exciting entertainment, inspiring interest and conversation beyond the theatre (which would later be called "buzz"), and repeated viewings.[6] The film is regarded as the first film of the "blockbuster era", and founded the blockbuster film genre.[7] Two years later,Star Wars expanded on the success ofJaws, setting box office records and enjoying a theatrical run that lasted more than a year.[8] After the success ofJaws andStar Wars, many Hollywood producers attempted to create similar "event" films with wide commercial appeal, and film companies begangreen-lighting increasingly large-budget films, and relying extensively on massive advertising blitzes leading up to their theatrical release. These two films were the prototypes for the "summer blockbuster" trend,[9] in whichmajor film studios and distributors planned their annual marketing strategy around a big release by July 4.[10] Alongside other films from theNew Hollywood era,George Lucas's 1973 hitAmerican Graffiti is often cited for helping give birth to the summer blockbuster.[11]
Blockbuster cinema of this decade also includedSuperman (1978) andStar Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)[12]
The next fifteen years saw a number of high-quality blockbusters released including the likes ofAlien (1979) and its sequel,Aliens (1986), the first threeIndiana Jones films (1981, 1984 and 1989),E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982),Ghostbusters (1984),Beverly Hills Cop (1984), theBack to the Future trilogy (1985, 1989 and 1990),Top Gun (1986),Die Hard (1988),Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988),Batman (1989) and its sequelBatman Returns (1992),The Little Mermaid (1989),Ghost (1990),The Hunt for Red October (1990),Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991),Beauty and the Beast (1991),Aladdin (1992),Jurassic Park (1993),The Lion King (1994),Toy Story (1995),Independence Day (1996),Men in Black (1997),Titanic (1997), andThe Matrix (1999).[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]
While Hollywood has long been aware of the value ofsequels to successful movies, and of series based on popular characters such asJames Bond, the twenty-first century saw studios invest increasingly infranchises. The eight-partHarry Potter film series, starting withHarry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001), andThe Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003), as well as the superhero trilogiesX-Men (2000–2006) andSpider-Man (2002–2007) were early demonstrations of the power of the cinematic universe.[21] The turning point for Hollywood would beIron Man (2008), the first movie in theMarvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).[22] As of June 2025[update], there are 43 movies in the MCU, with a combined global box office of $31 billion,[23] and the franchise inspired other cinematic universes including theDC Extended Universe, theMonsterVerse and theWizarding World, with mixed box office results.[24] Other successful franchises of the era includedFast & Furious (starting 2001),Shrek (starting 2001),Ice Age (starting 2002),Pirates of the Caribbean (starting 2003),The Dark Knight trilogy (2005–2012) andTransformers (starting 2007)[25][26]
Another notable trend was the rise of two-part blockbusters, particularly in book adaptations and to end movie series. This trend started withHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (2010) andPart 2 (2011), and was followed byThe Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 (2011) andPart 2 (2012),The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014) andPart 2 (2015),It Chapter One (2017) andChapter Two (2019),Avengers: Infinity War (2018) andEndgame (2019), andDune: Part One (2021) andPart Two (2024).[27]
Original blockbusters includedGladiator (2000)The Day After Tomorrow (2004),The Passion of the Christ (2004),The Da Vinci Code (2006),Avatar (2009) andPixar'sFinding Nemo (2003),WALL-E (2008) andUp (2009).[28]
Blockbusters in the 2010s includeInception (2010),Despicable Me (2010), the first fourHunger Games films (2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015),Ted (2012),The Conjuring (2013),Gravity (2013),Frozen (2013),The Revenant (2015),Wonder Woman (2017), andIt (2017).[29][30][31] Several established franchises continued to spawn successful entries withHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011),X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014),Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017),Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) andFrozen II (2019) and Pixar'sToy Story 3 (2010) andIncredibles 2 (2018) alongside animated originalsZootopia (2016) andInside Out (2015).[32] Several older franchises were successfully resurrected byRise of the Planet of the Apes (2011),The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012),Godzilla (2014),Mad Max: Fury Road (2015),Jurassic World (2015), andStar Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).[33]
The rise ofstreaming media and theimpact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema significantly changed the film landscape in the 2020s, with analysts disagreeing about whether decreased cinema attendance would make Hollywood more reliant on blockbusters or would instead favor smaller films.[34] Expected blockbusters such asOnward,Tenet (each from 2020) andNo Time to Die (postponed to 2021) had cinema releases that were curtailed, postponed, or replaced entirely with direct-to-steaming releases.[35] Blockbusters increasingly were booked in competition with each other with shorter runs, rather than being treated as tentpole releases, and many expected blockbusters from 2024 were delayed to 2025 to create a busier slate.[36]
The following decade,Hollywood saw blockbusters, such asSpider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023),[37]Oppenheimer (2023),Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022),[38]Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021),[39]Avatar: The Way of Water (2022),[40]The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023),[41]Inside Out 2 (2024)[42] andGreta Gerwig's adaptation ofBarbie (2023)[43] alongside several older franchises that were successfully resurrected likeTop Gun: Maverick (2022)[44][45] andBeetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024).[46]
Eventually, the focus on creating blockbusters grew so intense that a backlash occurred, with some critics and film-makers decrying the prevalence of a "blockbuster mentality",[47] lamenting the death of theauthor-driven, "more artistic" small-scale films of theNew Hollywood era. This view is taken, for example, by film journalistPeter Biskind, who wrote that all studios wanted was anotherJaws, and as production costs rose, they were less willing to take risks, and therefore based blockbusters on the "lowest common denominators" of the mass market.[48] In his 2006 bookThe Long Tail,Chris Anderson talks about blockbuster films, stating that a society that is hit-driven, and makes way and room for only those films that are expected to be a hit, is in fact a limited society.[49] In 1998, writerDavid Foster Wallace posited that films are subject to aninverse cost and quality law.[50]
Biskind's bookEasy Riders, Raging Bulls argues that the New Hollywood movement marked a significant shift towards independently produced and innovative works by a new wave of directors, but that this shift began to reverse itself when the commercial success ofJaws andStar Wars led to the realization by studios of the importance of blockbusters, advertising and control over production (even though the success ofThe Godfather was said to be the precursor to the blockbuster phenomenon).[51][52]
