- Blockbuster Movies

Blockbuster Movies are nothing special but a movie which is a huge financial success. In common usage "Blockbuster Movies" are movies that have a box-office of more than $100 million upon release in North America.

Big movie studios need big movies. What they particularly need, given the fact that they are all part of huge multi-media conglomerates, are big movies that can also translate into big theme park rides, big computer games, big t-shirts, big soundtrack CDs, big magazine circulations and big TV ratings. And for this they need big audiences. Amongst other Blockbuster Movies, the first blockbuster movie is generally deemed to be Jaws (1975), directed by the then little known Steven Spielberg.

It was a movie that everyone went to see, and that made its studio, Universal, nearly $500M worldwide. It was a blockbuster because it was a huge financial success, but it was also a blockbuster because it had global appeal, and attracted mass audiences. It only cost $12M to make, and movie studios have been chasing that kind of profit margin ever since.

Almost every established director and producer wish to make Blockbuster Movies, but there are few fortunate people who are able to make not just one Blockbuster Movie but many Blockbuster Movies in their lifetime. During the time for the long school holidays in every summer, the main movie studios release a movie that they hope everyone will want to see. Around 40% of their year's takings are concentrated into this period. By everyone, they mean that the film does not have a niche audience. It is not a chick flick, or a kid pic, but it offers something to everyone.

Perhaps it contains a major star, or is part of a franchise, or is a remake, or an adaptation of a book, comic, TV show or computer game. It will often be very clearly identifiable as belonging to a genre, and although it will contain plot twists, it is likely to come to satisfactory closure for the audience. It will have high production values, and much will be made of the special effects sequences. Because of this, it will have a high budget, and the studio will be anxious about the box office it will achieve. In other words, they consider nothing less than Blockbuster Movies from them.

Let’s see what John Truby[1] says about making Blockbuster Movies, while the vast majority of screenwriters are off pounding out their simple three-act scripts, top screenwriters are using fundamentally different techniques. Three-act structure is designed to give you the same script everyone else is writing. Plus it tells you nothing about what Hollywood wants to buy. So using the old three-act structure paradigm virtually guarantees failure.

Blockbuster Movies techniques are story structure elements that Hollywood wants to see. That doesn't mean you are writing 'bad' or pre-fab scripts when you use these techniques. Many blockbuster scripts are extremely 'well-written' in the classic sense of the term. Blockbuster Movies techniques simply allow you to be more attuned to the popular audience you must serve if you want to sell your material.

One of the most important Blockbuster Movies elements is what he calls the 'double track line.' Hit films always have a character line and an action line, or, to put it another way, a personal story and a case to be solved. The character line, or personal story, refers to some kind of struggle the hero must go through to make a character change and grow as a human being. The action line, or case, involves the trouble the hero must deal with to save the day.

To sum, Blockbuster Movies writers hit all the beats of their genre, but they twist each one so that the story seems original. The reader gets the pleasure of the genre beats, but also the pleasure of surprise and creativity.

[1] John Truby is considered by many to be the best story consultant in Hollywood. He coaches top writers for the screen and television, has created software for the working writer and has served as story consultant for major studios and production companies and as script doctor on more than 1,000 movies, sit-coms and dramas for television. He founded Truby's Writers Studio where he teaches writing techniques and has created a number of books, audiotapes and other essential tools for the writer, all of which are available through The Writers Store.