Whither the Summer Movie Season
Studios are Offering Us Less; We're Losing a Shared Experience as a Result
Fifty years ago this summer, a movie came out. Based on a Peter Benchley novel, and directed by a rising talent who’s only other credits at the time were as an assistant on “Hogans Heroes,” the road rage TV movie, “Duel,” and “The Sugarland Express” starring Goldie Hawn, the production was beset by a myriad of issues. Filmed in Martha’s Vineyard, nothing worked right, the budget skyrocketed, the script was constantly being re-written and the only established star in the film at the time repeatedly showed up drunk wondering what his agent had gotten him into. The young director, worked around these obstacles to the best he could. In the summer of 1975, that film, “Jaws,” was released and became the biggest movie of all time and a summer classic. It was the perfect summer film, and is largely credited with being the first summer blockbuster.
The biggest movies the studios put out are almost always the summer movies. On those hot summer nights, when there’s nothing to do, what better way to enjoy some time out than being out with friends, going to the theater, sitting in some air conditioning, grabbing some popcorn and drinks and watching a film with a horde of others. When you think about the best movie-going experiences, it’s almost always a summer movie that comes to mind. Mindless action. Good natured humor. Big spectacle, tentpole films. Fun little indies that come out of nowhere and blow up big. Some of my favorite film memories:
Standing in line to watch a capacity crowd watch The Empire Strikes Back when I was 8. I saw Star Wars in a Drive In when I was 4,1 so hearing the crowd gasp at parts are etched in my brain.
Crying with all the other neighborhood kids thinking E.T. died and then smiling ear to ear when he comes back.
Seeing Poltergeist on the big screen around the same age with neighborhood kids (some of whom where teens at the time) because it was PG and my mom thought it was OK2 since it was a “Speilberg” (he produced it, the director was Tobe Hooper, the guy who made “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”). I had nightmares for a month.
Laughing myself silly with my friends watching Ghostbusters.
Then doing the same the following summer with Back to the Future.
Top Gun. Amurica-F*** Yeah.
Sneaking into my first rated R movie at the theater, Bull Durham. Half the audience were boys not much older than I was.
Riding my bike across town to catch the late showing of Coming to America.
Snickering with the crowd at the trailers for some dumb action film starring mediocre actor, Moonlighting’s Bruce Willis, only to be blown out of the theater when I snuck in to see it later that summer. It’s since become my favorite Christmas movie.
Taking my mom to see “The Fugitive,” because “That Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones are just darn good actors.” Then grabbing something to eat afterwards and having her talk about the old television show on which it was based and how cheap the train crash looked.3
Hearing the woman next to me say “Oh. My. God. Get the Fuck out of there!” when viewing the T.Rex in Jurassic Park for the first time.
Watching the kids in the theaters jaws drop watching all their favorite Marvel heroes turn to dust in “Avengers: Infinity War.”
There hasn’t even been a memorable summer film since “Avengers: Endgame.” And that came out before COVID in 2019. But tell me you didn’t feel like a kid in a candy store when Captain America catches Thor’s hammer and says “Avengers! Assemble!” That 45 minute fight sequence was just crazy, bonkers, gonzo fun.
There was a shared experience with all of those films. Kids, especially teens, went to theaters to socialize before, during and after. “PG-13” as a rating came out in 1984 with films like “Red Dawn” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” Like that stopped us. We saw everything that came out in theaters back then; our latchkey lifestyles almost demanded it. Today, the only movies usually PG are Pixar and other animated films, and anything demonstrating any kind of conflict gets bumped up to PG-13 ensuring no kid gets exposed to anything. No wonder Gen Z and Alpha have issues; they’re unchallened until they’re in their teens, and then are scarred for life when they hear an obscenity for the first time or see a boob on-screen. It’s enough to make John Hughes roll over in his grave.
We lost a little bit when VCRs became the cheap and easy way to view a lot of films; but that just made it easier to watch Rated R movies or tweak the tracking settings so you could watch pay TV for free. It also meant that studio films had to get bigger, and more expensive to draw people into the theaters. They expanded from 2 or 4 theaters to 12 in the same building; a single release could last months. Everything became a retread or sequel part 9. That dynamic crashed in the late ‘80s/early ‘90s recession. However, it was a blessing for a new generation of talents to emerge on the cheap, making great films that made boatloads. Making cheap movies were more profitable, because the return on investment was so much bigger, and you could churn out more of them.
But now, everything has to be a $100 million movie, especially in summer. Summer films are always aiming for a BILLION dollars. Here’s Matt Damon to explain why:
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So now we’re back at the retreads and the sequels again. Everything is a comic book movie or remake. Marvel has made so many billions of dollars that they now practically own the big must-see blockbusters of the summer. However, those are feeling more and more like the same formulaic plots as before with less interesting comic book heroes and villains. Since Thanos snapped his fingers, there hasn’t been a villain remotely close in proportion, the heroes seem more derivative, and the stakes just seem more and more cartoonish and weak as a result. Nothing else comes close to being a must see these days. The actors’ and writers’ strikes post-COVID didn’t help studios put out any good new content either.
Just look at what has been released so far this summer or coming out this weekend:
Mission Impossible (again).
Live action “Lilo and Stitch.” Stitch is still CGI animated though, giving this a real “Jerry the mouse dancing with Gene Kelly in ‘Anchors Aweigh’” vibe to it.
“Ballerina”— a.k.a. female John Wick.
Another Final Destination. Somehow “Final” seems like false advertising.
“Karate Kid- Legends.” As if Cobra Kai wasn’t nostalgic enough for you.
Marvel’s “Thunderbolts,” which came and went just in time for Marvel’s “Fantastic Four,” it’s THIRD attempt to create a Fantastic Four franchise with different actors.
Megan 2.0. I have nothing more to say on that one.
“28 Years Later,” a sequel to “28 Days Later” and “28 Weeks Later.”
A live action “How to Train Your Dragon.” See “Live action Lilo and Stitch” above.
“The Phoenician Scheme,” another Wes Anderson movie starring many of the same cast of people, in many of the same dioramic sets, that feels like we’ve seen the same film over and over.
And a host of other remakes, retreads, sequels and August crapfests that will carry us into the fall movie season when Oscar bait starts coming out. And when that happens…summer’s over.
What’s frightening is that the turnaround from the theater to streaming now is so short, that I can miss going to see a movie I want to see for a couple weeks, and soon after see it from my couch in the theater room I have downstairs. For instance, “Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning,” which came out only 2 weeks ago is expected to be on Paramount Plus in July. Thunderbolts will be streaming then too. It used to be movies stayed in theaters for 10+ weeks sometimes and wouldn’t be on DVD for 3-6 months; now you can watch from your home within a few weeks. Don’t even get me going on how fast some unsuccessful films get to streaming or releases that are already on Amazon Prime by the end of the weekend. Streaming is so cheap and direct that theaters are going to go by the wayside faster than you can say “shopping malls.” Limited series on HBO or Netflix or Hulu or whatever streaming network you choose are like binging an entire trilogy spread out across 8 or 10 episodes.
There’s less of a point to go to movies anymore. We’re losing that shared experience of seeing something for the first time with others. I’ve been to the theaters three times this year, none of which were eventful or memorable in any way, except that I now get beer when I go there. I no longer stare at the big screen in the auditorium with awe like I did all those years ago. Nowadays, it’s more like “seen it, what’s next?”
And I really miss that feeling.
The economics of these huge movies no longer make it feasible to make a decent film without basing it on an existing franchise of some kind. People are spending more on home entertainment rooms that allow the same benefits of experiencing a theater blockbuster without others in the room. It isn’t the same. Nowadays, the better, more entertaining movies all come out in November and December in the holiday season to win awards, and it makes the summer all the more duller for it. I miss good, original summer movies.
And it isn’t just for the popcorn.
What I would give for something to come out of nowhere like Jaws did 50 years ago and reinvent the summer movie experience again.
PurpleAmerica’s Obscure Facts of the Day
James Cameron has three of the top four highest grossing films of all time (Titanic, Avatar and Avatar 2). None of them were released over the summer (they were all December releases).
Spielberg named the mechanical shark in Jaws “Bruce” after his lawyer.
In the scene where Robert Shaw talks about the U.S.S. Indianapolis, he sings the “Farewell and adieu…” song when Richard Dreyfuss cuts in and starts singing “Show me the way to go home…” Shaw came to the set drunk one day and was singing the song. You can see him giggle, look at Spielberg and touch his mouth before he joins in. Spielberg needed some extra time and he nudged Roy Scheider to join them, and they sang the song twice. It’s the best part of the film, and it was completely improvised.
In the same scene you can see actual shooting stars in the sky that now look fake because of the transfer of film to digital photography.
PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject
What’s your favorite Summer Movie? Put your favorite and your memories down in the comments.
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Footnotes and Fun Stuff
The first movie I ever saw. Actually, that’s not QUITE correct. It was a double feature. The first film was a movie called “Roller Coaster” which all of us kids quickly fell asleep to. When Star Wars started, my dad woke us up. I can still hear Darth Vader’s breathing through the old Drive-in speakers that you hung on the window to your car. But the mere fact I remember that FIRST film in that shows how memorable that experience was for me.
It needs to be mentioned that for Gen X, being dropped off at a theater was like having a babysitter; parents just dropped their kids off and enjoyed the two hour break. For the most part, kids would just watch the movie without disruption. Bonus points if you snuck in a can of soda or snack from home since it was 10x the price in the lobby. It’s one of the reasons we have such an affinity for ‘80s movies.
My mother passed away last summer. This remains one of my fondest memories of her, just me and her enjoying a movie and a night out talking like we were just old friends.
Jaws.....the summer I became a beach bather instead of a body surfer in OC Md.
I feel like you were writing about my movie experiences growing up and with my own kids. Spot on