What Constitutes a Blockbuster Film?

If you are a movie buff and love to indulge in movie trivia, the movie industry and the movie making process, one of the debatable topics is always what constitutes a blockbuster. To many people, a Hollywood blockbuster means something different. Here is some information on what some of the Hollywood guru’s consider to be a blockbuster film.

To some people a blockbuster movie is a film that reaches a certain amount of ticket sales, in the past this number was $100 million dollars, however since most Hollywood films cost much more than $100 million dollars to make, the new blockbuster number has risen considerably. Some say $200 million, other say $250 million and others only consider a movie with a box office gross of more than $300 million to make it a certified blockbuster.

For some people, a blockbuster is a film that has made many times the cost of its original budget. For instance, if a film costs only $3 million dollars to make and an extra $5 million to advertise and it makes $80 million or ten times the initial investment, many people would consider that film a blockbuster. Most of these small films that become blockbusters are called independent break out films. As viewers become more jaded with the regular Hollywood fare, many independent films and art house films that cater to a small audience are getting more screening increasing the chances of becoming blockbusters.

Still for many people, a film doesn’t even have to be release widely to become a blockbuster. There have been many direct to video films that have received high accolades and even created their own genre. While these direct to video releases are rare, it just goes to show that the medium in and of itself is what is important.

One of the schools of thought is that a blockbuster doesn’t have to do with the amount of box office at all. Many film lovers view movies as an art form and if a movie has a huge impact on culture or on how we view ourselves or society, many people might say that this is a blockbuster film event.

To expand on this view, many critics will designate a movie a blockbuster, no matter what the box office take as long as it hands down is critically acclaimed by many respectable critics and adds something to the cinema as an art form. For instance, the movie Citizen Kane has received an enormous amount of critical acclaim and usually rated as one of the best pieces of cinema ever created. Whether it made lots of money at the box office or was extremely profitable has nothing to do with the fact that it added to the medium and is studied by film students to this day.

Unfortunately, for many film buffs, there isn’t an easy answer to the question what constitutes a blockbuster, however the above hints to the various schools of thought does give some insight.

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