Half Term Study

Rules For a Blockbuster

• Newsworthy Budget
• Spectacular Visuals (Spectacles) 
• Avoid being it a comedy
• A list Stars (big names)
• High Concept

High Concept Movie = Blockbuster

High Concept: (Of a film or television plot) having a striking and easily communicable idea. 

High Concept Movies Of All Time 

• Planet of the Apes (1968; often remade or re-versioned)
• Jaws (1975)
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977)
• Freaky Friday (1976; remade 1995, 2003)
• A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984; remade 2010)
• Groundhog Day (1993)
• Jurassic Park (1993)
• Strange Days (1995)
• Toy Story (1995)
• Liar, Liar (1997)
• The Matrix (1999)
• The Sixth Sense (1999)
• Shallow Hal (2001)
• Phone Booth (2002)
• Cellular (2004)
• Snakes on a Plane (2006)
• 30 Days of Night (2007)
• The Invention of Lying (2009)
• TiMER (2009)
• Buried (2010)
• Grabbers (2012)
• Two Night Stand (2013)

Blockbusters

Similarities? and Characteristics?

• Post genre
• Widest possible audience appeal
• Previous audience
• Spectacles - focus on CGI, VFX and animation
• Event movie
• Star driven - Big names (stars)
• Big budget
• Product -Heavily marketed and hyped/tie-ins
• Not character driven/motivation(Not CHN)
• Franchises and sequels/prequels 
• Pre -sold: The audience are already aware of (novel, comic or game) 
• Video game like experience - blurs the line between film and game
• Homogenous and cross-cultural - universal locale or identity

Main Points

• Piracy
• Hype of movies
• Marketing - Global appeal to make more money

Significance Of "Jaws" (1975)

• Trailer - Unidentified Threat
• No Shark - Shark not shown in the trailer, therefore that engages the audience and makes them eager to go and see the shark in the theatres. 
• Hype - Best Selling Novel
• Focuses on the theme
• Has a high concept

Recent Releases

The Lego Movie	‎1hr 40min‎	‎U‎	‎Animation‎	‎English‎	Trailer
The Monuments Men	‎1hr 50min‎	‎12A‎	‎Action‎	‎English‎	Trailer
The Lego Movie in 3D	‎1hr 40min‎	‎U‎	‎Animation‎	‎English‎	Trailer
Mr. Peabody & Sherman	‎1hr 30min‎	‎U‎	‎Animation‎	‎English‎	Trailer
RoboCop	‎1hr 48min‎	‎12A‎	‎Scifi‎	‎English‎	Trailer
A New York Winter's Tale	‎1hr 58min‎	‎12A‎	‎Drama‎	‎English‎
Cuban Fury	‎1hr 38min‎	‎15‎	‎Comedy‎	‎English‎
Tinkerbell and the Pirate Fairy	‎1hr 18min‎	‎U‎	‎Animation‎	‎English‎
The Wolf of Wall Street	‎2hr 59min‎	‎18‎	‎Drama‎	‎English‎	Trailer
12 Years A Slave	‎2hr 13min‎	‎15‎	‎Drama‎	‎English‎	Trailer
Endless Love	‎1hr 43min‎	‎12A‎	‎Drama‎	‎English‎	Trailer
Dallas Buyers Club	‎1hr 57min‎	‎15‎	‎Drama‎	‎English‎	Trailer
Mr. Peabody & Sherman 3D	‎1hr 30min‎	‎U‎	‎Animation‎	‎English‎	Trailer
The Invisible Woman	‎1hr 51min‎	‎12A‎	‎Drama‎	‎English‎	Trailer
Frozen

• The Lego Movie
• The Monuments Men
• Mr. Peabody & Sherman
• ‎RoboCop
• ‎A New York Winter's Tale
• ‎Cuban Fury
• Tinkerbell and the Pirate Fairy
• ‎The Wolf of Wall Street
• 12 Years A Slave (Independent Film)
• ‎Endless Love
• ‎Dallas Buyers Club 
• ‎The Invisible Woman 
• Frozen
• The Book Thief

These are all the recent releases. They're produced and distributed by big companies, such as: DreamWorks, Warner Bros, Universal, Paramount, Walt Disney, Universal, Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox and more. In the list of new releases there's only one independent movie, which is 12 Years A Slave. The movie is distributed by Fox Searchlight Pictures, in United States. They are part of the Fox Entertainment Group, but they're specialised in US distribution of independent and British films. The movie was made on a budget of $20 million. However Robocop is the recent "blockbuster" movie released. The reason for it's success is because: It has previous audience, high budget, pre-sold.

Mr Peabody and Sherman 

Mr Peabody and Sherman is a American 3D computer animated adventure comedy film based on the characters from the Peabody's Improbable History segments of the 1960's animated television series, The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. The movie is distributed by 20th Century Fox and produced by DreamWorks Animation alongside Pacific Data Images and Bullwinkle Studios.
The film features Mr Peabody, a talking dog who is the smartest being in the world, and his adopted boy Sherman and how they travel back to the past with the time traveling WABAC machine (which Mr Peabody refers as the "Way back"), in order to save Penny Peterson who is Sherman's classmate.
The film premiered on February 7, 2014 in UK and will be released March 7, 2014 in the US. The film has been getting a very great response by the audience as well as the critics. It has received 6.8/10 by IMDb (921 votes), 91% by critics and 80% by audience is Rotten Tomatoes review. As it hasn't yet released in the US, the film can't be classed as a blockbuster, because it hasn't released in one of the most populated states, therefore it hasn't yet got different view from a huge mass of people. It can be reviewed properly, once it releases in the USA. Box office (so far): $22,481,000. There haven't been many promotions of Mr Peabody and Sherman, they also haven't sold any merchandises. However there they have advertised it on buses, cinemas, and on the TV (through the trailers and the posters).
Personally I would give it 7/10, therefore I agree with the review it has been receiving, as it's a different concept with a dog adopting a boy. The film also teaches History and English, as they use the time machine to go back in time where it travels to Egypt,  Italy, France and other places. It also shows people like: Mozart, William Shakespeare, Da Vinci, Mona Lisa and many other legends from the past, who are now remembered through history. It teaches new words like "Appography", through the little boy Sherman. Therefore the film doesn't just entertain the kids but it also teaches them new and old things that are relevant to studies as well as normal life.

Trailer