What makes a good summer movie? Heat Vision Breakdown goes beyond the box office to look at the qualities that allow some filmmakers to follow in the footsteps of Spielberg, and others that fall short.
00:00Hello friends! Summer movie season. It's an ambiguous term that highlights an
00:04ever-expanding window for Hollywood releases. May, April, even March. What
00:08constitutes a summer opening has changed drastically over the years, but the more
00:11important question that needs asking is, does it even matter anymore? This week
00:15on Heat Vision Breakdown we examine the myth of the summer blockbuster, from
00:19coveted release dates to major early and late-year shake-ups to what actually even
00:22makes a summer blockbuster anyway.
00:26Lots of films are profitable. Many more aren't, but let's stay positive here.
00:31But simply making double your production budget back at the box office doesn't
00:35necessarily mean a film is a blockbuster. Over the past decade or so it seems that
00:38if a film doesn't meet the incredibly lofty heights of earning over a billion
00:42during its theatrical run, then it doesn't belong in the club. That's obviously a bit
00:45limiting, but let's use that as a jumping-off point. Let's start simple. There are
00:4912 months in a year. We verified that. Of those 12 months, only three have failed to
00:53produce a billion-dollar grocer at the box office. January, August, and September.
00:58Right off the bat, something should jump out to any calendar enthusiasts. August and
01:02September are, technically, summer months, poking a bit of a hole in the summer
01:06blockbuster picture. But, of course, when we say summer, most of us aren't really
01:10referring to the astronomical season that stretches from solstice to solstice.
01:12No, generally what we mean when we say summer, at least up here in the northern
01:16hemisphere where toilets drain counterclockwise, are the months that school is out, more or less, late May to early August.
01:21There are certainly some numbers to back up that window, too. Of the top ten highest grossing months at the box office ever,
01:27eight have been in either June or July. The other two are December's, both of which had a new Star Wars film released in them.
01:33The truth is, studios still look at May, June, and July as coveted release dates for their mass appeal films.
01:38But with the advent of the MCU and its incredible financial clout, a glaring asterisk has presented itself.
01:43You can make a billion in April, March, or even February. Clearly, then, the answer lies not only in the window during which a film is released,
01:49but also in the content of said film. What a shocking revelation!
01:53It's not enough to simply state that fact, however, you must also show your work. And we're going to.
01:57Everyone remembers this scene from E.T. Or this one where he gets wasted. Or this one where he says goodbye.
02:03Aww. I know, I'm sad too, guys.
02:05But you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who recalls what happened in Super 8, J.J. Abrams' love letter to Spielberg, not the motel jam.
02:11Summer blockbusters should be escapists, giving you that feeling of being a kid out of school and ready for new adventures.
02:16The best of them fill us with a sense of wonder and that there's a world out there to explore.
02:20A successful summer blockbuster must feel familiar, but also fresh. They are often formulaic, but it's not as easy as following a recipe. This isn't cooking.
02:27Let's turn to Abrams again, this time with one of his hits.
02:302009's Star Trek introduces James T. Kirk with a chase scene that tells you what you need to know about this kid.
02:35Kirk was always a wild card, but this version was not raised by his Starfleet officer father and is a little bit more reckless.
02:41Last year's Solo, a Star Wars story, faced the same challenge, introducing an earlier version of an iconic character.
02:46And the film similarly opens with a car chase scene.
02:49But coming just years after we saw the real Han Solo die on the big screen, and a decade after Abrams revitalized Star Trek,
02:55this didn't feel like it was showing us anything new.
02:58It was just a shadow of things we'd seen before. This was not a summer blockbuster.
03:02Keeping on the Harrison Ford front, Raiders of the Lost Ark includes a lengthy chase scene in which the stakes are clear.
03:07And the danger feels real.
03:09Indiana Jones isn't Superman. When he gets hit, it hurts.
03:12When he nearly falls off a truck, he tempts up.
03:14But when his Cowboys and Aliens co-star Daniel Craig is flying through the air, there's just no sense that he's truly in harm's way.
03:20Also, how the hell did he keep his hat on?
03:22It's not just action that makes a summer blockbuster, of course.
03:24You also need charming characters and one-liners.
03:27Will Smith owned this field in the 90s with his iconic deliveries of Welcome to Earth, and I make this look good.
03:32But Wild Wild West failed to generate any such one-liners.
03:35The key intangibles here are charm, which Smith has plenty of, and chemistry.
03:39Something lacking a bit in Wild Wild West.
03:41See this scene.
03:42Gordon, I think you need to calm down.
03:44I can't be calm. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
03:46I'm the master of the mechanical stuff!
03:50It's bad.
03:51Now compare that to Jeff Goldblum and Smith in this scene.
03:53Do you really think you can play anything?
03:55Do you really think you can do all that bullshit you just said?
03:59No.
04:02That one's good.
04:03You can feel the chemistry here, and it's largely because the characters like each other despite their bickering.
04:07There's heart.
04:08Unfortunately for studio execs, star power isn't enough to make a summer blockbuster anymore.
04:13Tom Cruise turned in a decent performance in 2017's The Mummy, but the film itself was flat, weighed down by franchise setups.
04:19Brendan Fraser's The Mummy, on the other hand, was full of charming side characters and was not dependent on just one great performance.
04:24While it may have spawned sequels, neither of which are very good, the original film was made to stand on its own, not serve as some greater franchise, thus making it a stronger individual film.
04:33Summer 2019 has faced its share of misses, from Godzilla King of the Monsters to Dark Phoenix.
04:38And it's safe to say they are lacking the charm of the hits we've just discussed, and they're failing to walk the line between nostalgia and something new.
04:44So here are the big takeaways.
04:46While it's too simplistic to boil down the magical box office formula to just make good movies, it's been shown time and time again that the quality is what drives audiences to theaters.
04:55That's a slippery concept to grasp, however, as quality is subjective.
04:59I hate cilantro, but most of Los Angeles thinks it needs to be on everything.
05:02It's gross, and it tastes like soap.
05:05Meanwhile, while there is evidence to back up the notion that releasing your film in June or July will lead to a greater financial haul, that, too, is a false compass which is rapidly changing.
05:13The MCU has dropped billion-dollar earners in February, March, April, and May.
05:18Want to know when it hasn't?
05:19June or July.
05:20So what do you guys think?
05:21Are summer blockbusters a myth?
05:22Do you secretly love Wild Wild West?
05:24What are your thoughts on cilantro?
05:25Let us know in the comments right down there.
05:27Don't forget to subscribe and join us here every Friday morning for new episodes of Heat Vision Breakdown.
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