Joker (Todd Phillips, October 4, 2019) Movie • Page 63

Well this is weird. I too was having this exact same conversation two days ago with my wife when we were flipping through channels and saw Independence Day was airing again. She stopped for a minute and asked if I remembered what a big deal this movie felt like back then. I said yes and she responded with “they don’t really feel like that anymore, do they?” Hell, the sequel released twenty years later and sure it was terrible, and word of mouth did it no favors, but the reception to it feels like a drop in the bucket compared to the zeitgeist around the original.

 

I hate to be all “old man yells at cloud” but honestly there’s a lot to be said for the creative bankruptcy of reboots/sequels/endless superhero fare

 

they definitely do movies like independence day. they’re just bad. that isn’t the same conversation.

 

I think it’s because there’s a billion different options of things to watch at a seconds’ notice. There’s “no time” to indulge and dig into a big release because there’s been a dozen more on some streaming service in the meantime.

 

What was the last blockbuster to be both critically and commercially successful while also being an either original or not-previously-adapted IP? Also not a kids movie

 

Oh no that part I understand. Definitely get that. I guess I mean more the cultural reaction to a blockbuster like that where there aren’t a multitude of sequels and prequels behind it.

 

Do Jordan Peele movies count? Us did very well

 

Get Out was the first thing that popped into my head.

 

Dunkirk or Interatellar deserve mentioning.

 

I think a $5 million budget means no right

John Wick maybe

 

Yeah Nolan is still a fairly successful pop blockbuster director

 

It fits the definition of a blockbuster much more closely than the current way the word is used. Huge word of mouth and repeat viewings and making an absolute killing compared to what was put into it.

 

This makes Lady Bird a blockbuster so let's go with that

 

Once Upon A Time in Hollywood did pretty well, didn't it? Or does that not count because it's technically very loosely based on real events

 

Well there are other major aspects to it of course, but I’m not going to fight Lady Bird being whatever it wants.

It’s always interesting to see how blockbuster became kind of a bland genre itself instead of a descriptor for success.

 

But it is insane thinking about how movies like Armageddon and Titanic had theme songs that charted, I feel like the art of movie songs went away

 

I just wanna talk about how good moonlight is

 

I know I’ve read some thinkpieces on that before.

 

sunflower went number 1

confirmed Spider-Man into the spiderverse best movie of the 2010’s

 

As for Tarantino, I do think that auteur “event” movies are slightly different than “blockbusters”. I don’t think it’s part of any official definition, but blockbusters tend to be genre work (Jaws, Star Wars), so for certain filmmakers, someone like Tarantino, certain Scorsese films, I don’t know that I count their releases. Then some filmmakers make movies that are blockbusters (Spielberg, Ready Player One) and that aren’t (Spielberg, the Post)

 

I’m curious, what are we trying to determine here exactly? Haha

 

only thing that comes to mind is John Wick but even that is getting milked by making 4 movies

 

how comic movies have been on a downward trend since Spider-Man Into The Spider-Verse came out since it’s been the best movie.

 

@Nathan
Figured it out Edge Of Tomorrow

 

Yeah it’s definitely easy to get bogged down when talking about any kind of classification like that. But as far as the original question of unique IPs that are successful critically, financially, and manage to stay in the public consciousness for more than a month, Peele’s stuff and John Wick have to be up there. Horror in general is in a pretty sweet spot right now for getting people out and into a theater for original releases.