Rick Keeney wrote:The film industry needs blockbusters in the same way the recording industry needs superstars. Plenty of Randy Newmans and BOTTLE ROCKETS have had successful runs due to the ridiculous numbers put up by the Sylvester Stallones and Bruce Springsteens. I make a godmillion bucks on this schmaltzy and HUGELY POPULAR album then I can finance some otherwise inscrutable artist.
The biggies ignore interstitial growth at their peril.
Back in the olden times a lot more movies got made. So the studies could take more chances and you're right, one biggie would cover for a lot of less successful (monetarily that is) movies. Now though with budgets so tight the studios want a sure thing and would rather aim one big movie at everybody rather than make five movies for individual audiences. So these days the blockbusters do tend to squeeze out more quirky projects. And we wind up with a lot of big movies that make a kazillion dollars and are totally forgotten five years later. What are the movies we remember from the old days?
