Blockbuster movies are extremely expensive to make, involving big named stars and costly special effects. Literally millions of dollars are spent on them with the hopes that the returns will more than make up for their cost. It's these movies that studios depend upon to keep the money flowing and a bad movie can cost the company dearly. The success or failure of a movie is often determined by the sales of tickets during the first weekend it's premiered. In an effort to pump up these sales, many studios do, "advanced screenings", to get positive feedback that they can use for advertisements. These screenings also let the studios know what to anticipate in public reviews.
With the rising cost of movie tickets, a lot of people hesitate to go see them, so the studios employ high profile, expensive actors to lure the public in. They also use special visual effects to dazzle the audience and suspenseful plots that will hopefully keep them riveted to their seats. Most movie studios know what the public wants to see when they go to the movies. Some studios have been pleasantly surprised by movies that cost little to make in comparison to the blockbusters, but have developed a "cult" following, such as the black and white movie, "Night of the Living Dead" or the still popular, "Rocky Horror Picture Show". In an effort to continue to profit from old popular movies, they often try to make remakes of them but usually without the same result. One such movie was "King Kong", which was done several times.
People go to see these movies with the hope that they will be as good as the original one, or to let their children experience them the way they did when they were children. Another tactic that the studios are using is to make sequels of popular movies. The Matrix trilogy brought in a lot of profit, as did the, "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Harry Potter movies are anticipated long before they come out and the movie studios know that they will be able to count on making huge profits from them. Another way that studios profit from these movies is by selling merchandise that represents the characters in them, which can range from dolls to videogames. They also make money on the DVD sales and rentals and employ popular music artists to record soundtracks, so they can sell the CDs and increase their profits even more.
Blockbuster movies will always be a form of entertainment that the multitudes will walk away from their televisions to go see. There is nothing like getting a box of popcorn and losing yourself in a great movie that's shown on the silver screen.
Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as exclusive movies at http://www.exclusivemovieclub.com
