Think of it as Hollywood’s version of a harmonic convergence: George Lucas. Steven Spielberg. “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.” “The War of the Worlds.” One summer. The original blockbuster directors with two “tent-pole” movies colonizing thousands of multiplex screens.
“I’m just trying to think when there was a time they went head-to-head,” said Tom Shone, author of “Blockbuster: How Hollywood Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Summer.” “I don’t think it’s ever happened.” He would know.
Entertaining in its own right, “Blockbuster” puts the advent of the summer movie phenomenon squarely on the shoulders of Spielberg and Lucas. Things were never the same after the directors gave us, respectively, a malfunctioning mechanical shark in 1975 (“Jaws”) and a collection of ragtag rebels battling an evil empire in 1977 (“Star Wars”).
Granted, Lucas and Spielberg have collaborated or advised each another for years. This movie season is different. “It’s pretty amazing, the kings of the summer movie finally meeting,” Shone said.
Meeting might be an overstatement; making a bid to own the entire summer is more like it. “Star Wars” opens May 19; “War of the Worlds,” starring Tom Cruise, opens June 29.
“They’re like supertankers, aren’t they?” Shone said. “They’re steering clear of one another. There’s a mile-wide berth.”
For better or worse, the summer movie season has morphed into a frantic dance of anticipation and disappointment, rife with manipulation and Hollywood hustle.
Knowing this, how is it that so many of us experience this ever-expanding stretch of box-office real estate with near Pavlovian anticipation? You would think “Godzilla,” “The Hulk” or “Troy” might have curbed our enthusiasm.
With three decades between now and the movies that began this spectacle, it is hard to remember that 20th Century Fox basically dumped “Star Wars” into the notoriously soft Memorial Day weekend because studio executives lacked confidence in Lucas’ film.
“It’s weird to think of it this way, but the blockbuster did have a kind of innocent heyday, when these things were created by the audience,” said Shone. “The compact between audiences and ‘Jaws’ or audiences and ‘Star Wars’ – it was a pretty electrified moment when people were leading the show.”
What happened when “Jaws” hit the screen and people ran from the beach was a pure pop-culture moment. Can you blame moviegoers if we try to recapture it? Universal and Fox didn’t set out to merchandise shark fins and light sabers. They picked up on moviegoers’ visceral reaction to the movie – the fans themselves created the first wave of spinoff products – and filled the entrepreneurial vacuum.
This summer, Lucas and Spielberg are not the only titans headed into theaters. Ridley Scott (“Gladiator”) returns to the historical epic when “Kingdom of Heaven” opens Friday.
Ron Howard and Brian Grazer have staked out summer’s prestige-event slot with “Cinderella Man” (June 3), starring Russell Crowe and Ren e Zellweger in the sepia-toned tale of boxer James Braddock.
Tim Burton and Johnny Depp aim to work their odd magic on Roald Dahl’s already weird and magical classic “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (July 15).
Michael Bay, who may singlehandedly spur the collapse of what Shone calls “the boundaries between a hit and a flop” will wade into summer with “The Island,” an action morality tale about clones starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. It opens July 22.
Big names, big projects, big money. A recipe for big disappointment.
Last year some very fine film critics did considerable plugging of “Troy.” Today Brad Pitt’s flick is a faded memory – though superior to the sword-
and-sandal debacle of “Alexander.” A year later, it seems fair to ask, “Why the praise?” One possible answer: because critics were relieved. Yes, a big gap between garbage and gold. But that’s what hype, hope and relief will get you.
Finding promise in smaller fare isn’t cheating. It’s hard-won realism. Of the indie films you can count on when the popcorn pleasures aren’t coming fast enough, a few stand out.
Craig Brewer’s “Hustle and Flow,” stars Terrence Howard in a breakout performance as a pimp turned rapper (July 10); Catherine Hardwicke’s “Lords of Dogtown,” is her feature version of Stacey Peralta’s skateboard documentary “Dogtown and Z-Boys” (June 3); Sally Potter’s “Yes” (July 8); Miranda July’s Sundance charmer, “You and Me and Everyone We Know” (July 15); Don Roos’ “Happy Endings,” with gemstone performances from Lisa Kudrow and Maggie Gyllenhaal (July 29); documentaries “Mad Hot Ballroom” (June 3) and “Rize” (June 24)
Coming off a sizzling 2004, Fox Searchlight (with “Sideways,” “Kinsey” and “I Heart Huckabees”) boldly enters summer with the Russian sci-fi film “Night Watch” (July 29).
Having come of age with the blockbuster, we can hardly blame audiences if their hope springs eternal.
Then again, we won’t blame anyone for walking out of the multiplex a few times this summer humming the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
Film critic Lisa Kennedy can be reached at 303-820-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com.
