production

Social.
In 1972 the first blockbuster was released called 'The Godfather' that focused upon the characters and the storyline which meant the narrative was the vital part of the film; this shows that before the hype of star wars and multiplex cinemas, the films were well scripted and thought through- even though they used the Stars as a way to draw in the demographic the films were a lot better.











When the ratings went down during the recession of the early 1970's it meant that american film studios were creating a film that would bring back the ratings- this is when they produced and released Jaws in 1975 that had such a hype over the shark that it pre-made an audience that all went to see it when the film was released meaning the ratings skyrocketed due to this and brought the balance back to cinemas.

With blockbusters becoming popular because of the spectacle within new films, Star Wars was made which was style over substance; the demographic gradually moved away from flee pits into the multiplex cinemas that came about in the early 1980's and presented a new exciting and better experience for the audience. This proves that the production of films became formulaic after the invention of the multiplex cinema due to the fact that the american film studios needed to roll out more films to fill the screens which therefore guaranteed an increase in the social groups filling up the cinemas.

Technological.

People wanted to see spectacle, and so films such as Star Wars used lots of special effects to create these spectacles such as space ships, laser guns and holograms, which were all made by ILM, who then inspired future blockbusters such as ET. 

The Godfather was also a blockbuster, however it was not as formulaic as Star Wars and ET, and it used A-list stars to attract and audience, rather than special effects.



Special effects in Star Wars

Special effects in ET

A-List Stars in The GodFather

Economical.

Economic
Jaws was the first ever blockbuster, it was also an event movie due to all the hype it received, making a lot of money in return. The Hollywood film industry saw this as a ultimate success and then went on to make nothing but blockbusters so that they have guaranteed revenue.

imdb data base (Jaws bugdet/gross)

 Godfather was also a blockbuster but which received a large revenue but also boasted a sizeable budget because of its "A list" actors.

imdb database (godfather budget/gross)