Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Dalton (A) on March 15, 2004 at 23:18:16

In Reply to: I can pinpoint the date it started to gradually sink posted by Dmitry on March 15, 2004 at 20:12:37:

The first signs of trouble might have been the early-70's Irwin Allen disaster movies. Then came "Jaws" in 1975 - a fine movie, but also the first genuine Hollywood summer blockbuster. But it's 1977's "Star Wars" that once and for all changed the mentality of Hollywood toward producing big-budget special effects driven summer blockbusters that appeal to a broad youth audience at the expense of smaller films that appealed to niche older audiences. Reinforcing the trend around this time, production costs started becoming so high that producers, writers and directors had to answer to studio accountants and marketing consultants instead of relying solely on their own artistic vision and hope that a small, "quality" film would naturally find its audience.