Movie Blockbusters [Paperback]

Big-budget, spectacular films designed to appeal to a mass audience: is this what - or all - blockbusters are? Movie Blockbustersbrings together writings from key film scholars, including Douglas Gomery, Peter Kramer, Jon Lewis and Steve Neale, to address the work of notable blockbuster auteurs such as Steven Spielberg and James Cameron, discuss key movies such as Star Warsand Titanic, and consider the context in which blockbusters are produced and consumed, including what the rise of the blockbuster says about the Hollywood film industry, how blockbusters are marketed and exhibited, and who goes to see them. The book also considers the movie scene outside Hollywood, discussing blockbusters made in Bollywood, China, South Korea, New Zealand and ArgentinaIntroduction Julian Stringer, University of Nottingham, The New Hollywood Thomas SchatzPart I: Industry Matters 1. Hollywood Blockbusters: Historical Dimensions Steve Neale, Sheffield Hallam University2. Following the Money in Amercia's Sunniest Company Town: Some notes on the political economy of Hollywood Blockbusters Jon Lewis3. The Hollywood Blockbuster: Industrial Analysis and Practice Douglas Gomery, University of Maryland4. The Role of the Auteur in the Age of the Blockbuster: Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks Warren Buckland, Liverpool John Moores UniversityPart II: Exploring Spectacle 5. Talking About a Revolution: The Blockbuster as Industrial Advertisement Michael Allen, Birkbeck College6. Spectacle Narrative and the Spectacular Hollywood Blockbuster Geoff King7. 'Want to Take a Rice?': Reflections on the Blockbuster Experience in Contact(1997) Peter Kramer8. Blockbusting Sound: The Case of The FugitiveGianluca SergiPart III: Establishing Cultural Status 9. Circulations of Taste: <lã½