The whole concept of summer blockbusters started some 39 years ago, when a film called
Jaws made by Steven Spielberg made hay at the summer B.O. and made plenty of movie-goers "afraid to go into the water".
In fact,
Jaws can be hailed as THE film which started the trend. Raking in over $470 million in gross terms, which is almost $1.9 billion in 2010's dollar terms, it firmly etched itself in the history of B.O. majors of all time.
Major studios suddenly sat up and took notice of this, and started producing seminal films to cash in on the summer season - a concept which has been reaping rich B.O. rewards for them all through the 80s, 90s, and the 00s.
Why haven't more horror films struck gold at the B.O. during the summer season then, you might wonder. Take a look at the genre releases following
Jaws during summer:
1975:
Jaws
1976:
The Omen
1977:
The Hills Have Eyes
1978:
Piranha (
Dawn of the Dead didn’t get a proper cinema release until 1980 and
Halloween was released around the appropriate date)
1979:
Dracula (directed by John Badham)
1980:
Friday the 13th
1981:
An American Werewolf in London
1982:
The Thing, Poltergeist
1983: (None of note)
1984:
The Company of Wolves
1985:
Day of the Dead, Fright Night, The Return of the Living Dead
1986:
The Hitcher
1987:
Hellraiser, The Lost Boys
1988:
Maniac Cop, The Blob
1989:
Child’s Play (made in 1988, released in the UK June 1989)
1990:
Buried Alive
1991:
Misery, Silence of the Lambs
1992:
Sleepwalkers
1993: (None of note)
1994:
Wolf
1995:
Species
1996:
From Dusk Till Dawn
1997:
Scream, Event Horizon
1998: (None of note)
1999:
The Haunting
2000:
Final Destination
2001:
Session 9
2002:
Dog Soldiers, Eight Legged Freaks
2003:
Underworld, Wrong Turn
2004:
Van Helsing
2005:
The Descent, House of Wax
2006:
Pulse, Snakes on a Plane
2007:
Captivity, Dead Silence, Halloween
2008:
The Mist, Eden Lake
2009:
Drag Me To Hell
2010:
A Nightmare on Elm Street
2011:
Fright Night
2012:
Dark Shadows
2013:
World War Z
(Some release dates are for US, some are for UK)
Some of the above-listed films have been successes, but cannot be termed as true blockbusters who have scored really big at the B.O., like Spielberg's classic fish tale did in the mid-70s.
Will 2014's
Godzilla,
which has opened really well and is garnering a lot of praise from critics and fans alike, join the ranks of
Jaws and become only the 2nd film in horror movie history to be a bonafide summer blockbuster?
For the record, Box Office Mojo reports that
Godzilla has scored almost $38.5 million on Friday on it's opening night, which is the biggest opening day for any film in 2014 so far, much ahead of
Captain America: The Winter Soldier &
The Amazing Spider-Man 2.