In a world where the collective knowledge of mankind and every form of entertainment ever created rests at your fingertips, it can be hard to remember a time when there was one thing capable of capturing the world’s attention. One thing so universally appreciated that people would camp out on sidewalks just for the chance to see it. One thing so iconic, that it inspired not only today’s drink, but a chain of once great stores across America. Hi, my name is Gabe Bauer, and this is Top Shelf History, where we combine great stories with great drinks.
This is the Blockbuster; it is the drink I have made for you based on the entertainment phenomenon of the same name. It’s made with fat-washed corn whiskey, Coca-Cola, and grenadine. And of course, it’s topped off with the iconic movie candy, a Twizzler.
When a movie surpasses projections, is universally loved, and even reaches across borders, it earns the moniker of blockbuster. It’s a word that has been in our lexicon for so long now that you may not be aware of its dark origins. While some may think that the term was coined after witnessing lines for ticket sales extend block after block, they’d be wrong. It wasn’t lines that busted the blocks. No, it was bombs. World War II arial bombs, specifically. And ones so lethal they could level an entire city block.
So how did a bomb become a movie sensation? Well, there are several ideas on which event started the trend, but what we can see looking back, is when reporting on the war met Hollywood publicists, a new metaphor was born. I bet even they’d be surprised at it’s staying power. Especially because, while the term was coined in the 1940s, it wasn’t until the 1970s that it came into its own.
It was summer. 1975. Gerald Ford was president. It was hot, I’m assuming. And Stephen Spielberg had just released a movie that would make history. Jaws. It’s almost impossible to describe how Jaws changed the movie industry. Before Jaws, people didn’t go to the movies in the summer. Summer was when studios dumped what they projected would be their lowest earners. But with a solid advertising plan, a nationwide release, and incredible movie to sell, Jaws earned over $7 million it’s opening weekend and grossed over $470 million world wide. People didn’t just see it once. Some came back two and even three times to watch that fin chase Roy Scheider on the big screen.
Suddenly Hollywood realized that not only could a summer movie be a success, it could be a phenomenon. And it was quite possible that it could also be replicated. And so they switched gears and began releasing some of their biggest movies in the summer. Greater funding was devoted to special effects and marketing, and from there the movie business was never the same. A fact only further proved when Star Wars: A New Hope was released two years later and the blockbuster reached even higher heights.
