TMT: So This is Why We Call It The Blockbuster
This is the next entry in a Theatre… a Movie… and a Time, a series that was begun here. My colleague Iba from I Luv Cinema, byway of his May 31st post, gets the credit, along with the upcoming Universal 100th Anniversary release of the remastered Blu-ray Disc of a landmark movie, for this memory download. The root reason the summer is now the studios’ box office money-making season, and why us movie patrons take for granted queuing for up for such things, is because of one Steven Spielberg film.
“I’m not going to waste my time arguing with a man who’s lining up to be a hot lunch.”
Theatre
Movie
Time
June 21, 1975: the ‘buzz’, among film critics and moviegoers, for this happening rivaled those of The Godfather and The Exorcist from years earlier. Everyone and their mother knew about this, whether they had read the top-selling novel or not (again, as with those other two). When it opened on this Friday date, 37 years ago today, you had people already lined up around the block, with SOLD OUT stuck next to some showtimes on theater marquees. This was especially true in this city’s showcase movie spots that were Hollywood and Westwood Village of the mid-70s.
Working part-time while attending college got me gas and movie date money back then. The last days of my first college girlfriend were coming to a close, but that still meant going to the flicks with her. Long-ago newspaper movie ads informed us that Century Plaza Cinemas had the film in widescreen 70mm splendor and Dolby sound. And since the area was not yet the draw like those mentioned, it’s where we ended up to meet the new reality of what became the summer blockbuster experience.
The two of us arrived on Saturday and immediately got into the ticket buying line for Jaws. That is, the one for purchasing tickets for the show after the one that was already sold out. We saw that audience start to file through the front door soon afterward. Like they had, we then fell into another line along the front of the complex on Avenue of the Stars. We proceeded to wait the two and half hours before we’d be ushered in to the movie cathedral for our worship service.
The ‘event’ nature of it all was giddily new, and it built a camaraderie, of sorts, among those there. Some of us struck up interim bonds to hold places while others broke away and brought back food and drink for those killing time till their call. And when we finally landed in our seats, faced the ocean and its new terror, we reconciled the new actuality now in place: wanting to do it all over again. Which I did, this time with my cousin, the very next day down at a theater in Lakewood.
“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
The entire series can be found here. If you’re interested how it’s put together, click here.
It Rains... You Get Wet 
32 Responses to “TMT: So This is Why We Call It The Blockbuster”
These are really cool posts, Le0p, I really do enjoy them. Makes em wish I had a better recollection of the times I went to the movies, instead of just remembering the movies themselves.
I DO remember the “Blockbuster” phenomenon though. Now with bigger theatres, more screens, advanced ticket sales, etc, you dont get it so much… but I distinctly recall waiting in line wayyyyy the hell OUT of the theatre. 😀
Those were the days…
LikeLike
Yes, the movie blockbuster experience has morphed into what you describe, Fogs. Remnants for the old still pop up from time-to-time — I just found out that a cohort caught me on local news when I was in a certain 4 AM movie line. Anyway, perhaps this early experience manifested itself into that ;-). Thanks for the kind words, my friend.
LikeLike
Another great trip down memory lane!
LikeLike
Thank you very much, Elizabeth :-).
LikeLike
You know I always enjoy your TMT.
This is a really fun read, I didn’t experience the hype of Jaws because I wasn’t even born yet…but I can imagine the hype as this movie is timeless.
LikeLike
As always, you are very kind and generous, Novroz. Many thanks.
LikeLike
Wish I’d been born for this! The big summer blockbuster season started here!
LikeLike
It was somethin’ to be there when it all went down, Pete. Thanks very much for reading and leaving a comment, my friend.
LikeLike
Just this week I got to see Jaws in the theatre for the first time. It was a wonderful experience – I now love the film even more and I’m beginning to regret placing it at number two, behind Close Encounters, in my top 10 Spielberg films.
…but I can’t imagine seeing this back in ’75…how it changed the face of Hollywood cinema; how it wowed audiences…what a wonderful moment! 🙂
LikeLike
That’s great, Dan! I have to admit there was a time I avoided this film in particular. In 1976, Universal did a re-release of JAWS during the summer here in the States. I was working as projectionist at an independent theater at the time. The film, successful at the box office all over again, stayed at that theater for SIX WEEKS. I’ve estimated that I screened the film at least 60 times in that period. We, the projectionists working there, got to the point of saturation with the film that we didn’t need to cue marks to perform the changeovers. We’d seen it so often that we could just listen to the dialogue and automatically knew when the reel ended.
It wasn’t until the 90s, when enough time had passed, that I could re-watch and enjoy the film once more. Many thanks, Dan.
LikeLike
I am jealous of you! i wish I was born when this movie came out as It has become my all time favorite over time. I have seen it twice on the big-screen in the Bay Area but something tells me it never will compare to seeing it when it first came out.
LikeLike
It’s a great one, alright. Can’t wait for the new and remastered Blu-ray coming this summer. Thanks so much for joining in on this, Mummbles.
LikeLike
So cool that you got to experience the blockbuster craze firsthand with Jaws. Thanks for sharing your story, Michael, this was a fun read.
LikeLike
You’re very kind, Eric. Thanks for reading and enjoying these.
LikeLike
What a wonderful trip down memory lane Michael. Glad that I could be of service. Working on developing my latest entry in the series for next week 🙂
LikeLike
I certainly will look forward to that, Iba. Many thanks.
LikeLike
That’s cool that you saw JAWS on the big screen. Man, that’s gotta be quite a thrill. “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” is such a great quote, it just sums up the dread in such a concise one liner. Great TMT, as always! 😀
LikeLike
Thank you very kindly, Ruth. This one was fairly easy to recall as so many precedents were set by this one film.
LikeLike
Seeing Jaws is my first film memory, saw it at the Drivein, don’t know what my parents were thinking as I was 5 years old at the time.
I am always amazed by your ability to recall so many details of the films and theaters that you went to. Do you have a photographic memory or are you related to The Amazing Kreskin? 😉
LikeLike
Now, that’s a memory! You were age 5 for this?!? Wow. And I really owe whatever ability I have for dredging things out of my head to my mother. Now, she had an Kreskin-like memory. Many thanks, my friend.
LikeLike
my poor brother was 4 lol, My folks claim it was a twin bill with some disney movie in front of Jaws and they thought we were going to be asleep by the time it started…. who can’t sleep through Jaws 😉
LikeLike
Double wow! With your 4 yr-old brother, too? This only gets better ;-).
LikeLike
Like Fogs said, I really do enjoy these. Always fun to read your memories of TMT!
Never got to see Jaws in theaters, but I can relate to waiting so long in line! What fun. Thanks for always sharing these.
LikeLike
Thank you very kindly, T. I am very appreciative that readers like you, Fogs, Ruth, and others enjoy these. All of you are great, truly.
LikeLike
[…] taking place — no surprise that as it was the 70s. The lines, and communal experience, that began to form around movie theaters back in 1975 were ushered onto its next plateau. That’s because Star Wars had landed on the populace the […]
LikeLike
[…] in June, for the official start of the warmest season of the year, I recalled in a TMT my initial experience with the film in 1975. It began a unique stint with the film adaptation of Peter Benchley’s bestselling thriller […]
LikeLike
[…] City. Still, to see the pre-release screening of The Thing at Century City’s Plaza Cinemas, the same place I saw JAWS years before, wouldn’t have missed it for the world. The theater was packed and my single ticket status […]
LikeLike
[…] Jeff Vaca said it best awhile back concerning their hit, this time, and what my girlfriend and I were headed toward: “… their crowning moment as a quartet was this hit from the summer of 1975, which was all […]
LikeLike
[…] had by this time accompanied me to many a film. The Way We Were and Chinatown by now, and a blockbuster in our future. Perhaps the gods were trying to tell us something with the first pair. The writing […]
LikeLike
[…] its 40th Anniversary year, few movies can beat Jaws. Saw it first-run, then became quite sick of it a year later when I had to project the film for six straight weeks. […]
LikeLike
[…] for Steven Spielberg’s next motion picture. The same guy who got everyone to line up to be scared out of the water two years prior had now planted a mysterious seed to what it would be about. Bore fruit that Fall […]
LikeLike
[…] turned out to be a fairly full crowd at the same theater where Jaws was taken in almost a decade earlier. They even passed out a brochure to attendees explaining the movie and the concepts of the novel it […]
LikeLike