Movies used to be a lot cheaper to make. Taxi Driver cost about $1.5 million back in 1976. Faster Pussycat Kill Kill was made for about $45,000.
Quick lesson. The old model was to open a major movie in a prestige theater [ie Radio City Music Hall] where it would run for as long as it was profitable. After that it would go to smaller houses, and eventually become a double bill. People waited on line for years to see ‘The Exorcist’ because it was only showing at a few places.
Jaws was the first summer blockbuster. The studio planned to open it up in a lot of theaters on the same day. The plan worked. About the same time, the VCR started becoming popular. Thise two things changed the way movies got distributed forever.
Now there’s some food for thought… The Exorcist could have been the first modern blockbuster, it had all the ingredients, only it was one year too early, the immediate precursor before they tried what they did with Jaws.
Look at “Thunderball,” the Bondiest of the Bond movies. Bond assaults a nurse, kills a dozen guys with a spear gun, and that movie was considered fine for general audiences. They even sold Bond toys to little kids, including a fake knife.
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Movies used to be a lot cheaper to make. Taxi Driver cost about $1.5 million back in 1976. Faster Pussycat Kill Kill was made for about $45,000.
Quick lesson. The old model was to open a major movie in a prestige theater [ie Radio City Music Hall] where it would run for as long as it was profitable. After that it would go to smaller houses, and eventually become a double bill. People waited on line for years to see ‘The Exorcist’ because it was only showing at a few places.
Jaws was the first summer blockbuster. The studio planned to open it up in a lot of theaters on the same day. The plan worked. About the same time, the VCR started becoming popular. Thise two things changed the way movies got distributed forever.
Now there’s some food for thought… The Exorcist could have been the first modern blockbuster, it had all the ingredients, only it was one year too early, the immediate precursor before they tried what they did with Jaws.
It was rated “R” I think they’d have gone with something that people would bring kids to see.
Interesting thought though.
Crazy to think that Jaws was rated PG, but it’s true.
Look at “Thunderball,” the Bondiest of the Bond movies. Bond assaults a nurse, kills a dozen guys with a spear gun, and that movie was considered fine for general audiences. They even sold Bond toys to little kids, including a fake knife.
It was a simpler, gentler time.