By Michael Lyons
The Summer Movie Season is as much a hallmark of the season as vacations, baseball and crowded beaches. Now, as trips are cancelled, stadiums sit empty and residents try desperately to social distance along shorelines, the Summer Movie Season has also faded from our view, due to the ever evolving state of our world.
Eagerly awaited films such as Marvel’s “Black Widow,” the “Top Gun” sequel “Maverick” and the Disney/Pixar animated film “Soul” were once headliners for the 2020 Summer Movie Season, but they have all shifted to release dates later this year, as movie theaters continue to remain closed.
Weekend after weekend during the upcoming hot weather months now sits empty with no big movie release vying for our attention. For movie fans, this is yet another sad by-product of our current state. The Summer Movie Season was always filled with giddy excitement as we awaited the next potential blockbuster, sequel, franchise favorite, or all of the above.
With this Summer looking to be either without a Summer Movie Season, or a VERY delayed one, it seems an appropriate time to “throwback” to some memorable Summer Movie Seasons of the past (all of them reaching milestones this year). They all helped create the Summer Movie Seasons we enjoy today.
Summer Movie Season 1975
Hard to believe, but forty five years ago, there really wasn’t a Summer Movie Season. Before 1975, May through August was seen as a wasteland for movie releases. It was thought that vacations, bar-b-ques and beaches called people outside and not into a darkened theater.
That all changed with one word...”Jaws.” Based on the best selling novel, Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” took a huge bite out of the box-office, pop culture and even society (beaches were deserted that Summer). It also knocked Hollywood for a loop, allowing them to see that audiences DID want to see a movie during the Summer. Studios immediately started scrambling to re-shuffle release dates and plan for future Summer Seasons.
The film’s release date of June 20, 1975 not only became a watershed (pun intended) moment for “Jaws” and its immediate success at the box-office, but that date is significant in that it’s also when the Summer Movie Blockbuster and the Summer Movie Season were born.
Summer Movie Season 1980
Forty Summers ago, in 1980, the Summer Movie Season had become an expectation and this particular season launched in a major way with the release of “The Empire Strikes Back,” the first sequel to “Star Wars.” George Lucas’ seminal space saga had kicked the Summer Movie Season into high gear in 1977 and with its May release date had even shifted the start of the Season to Memorial Day Weekend.
By 1980, Hollywood had figured out how to wisely navigate audience tastes during the warm weather months. This was the time of year to shy away from heavy dramas, in exchange for what would eventually become easy going “popcorn movies,” which is evident in many of this Summer’s releases.
There was Stanley Kubrick’s now iconic adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Shining,” as well as films like “The Blues Brothers” and “Caddyshack,” that reflect the immense popularity of TV’s “Saturday Night Live” at the time.
And comedy was big box-office business during summer of 1980, as the Zucker Bros’ “Airplane!” Was released and re-defined the genre with a comedy that was “Shirley” unlike anything anyone had ever seen.
With a focus on lightweight Summer fare, Hollywood soon began to learn that these don’t always yield the desired box office results. Anyone remember these 1980 Summer films: “You Can’t Stop the Music,” “Holy Moses,” or the lackluster sequel “Smokey and the Bandit Part II?” If you answered “Nope,” you’re not alone.
Irregardless, the Summer of 1980 ushered in what would be an amazing decade chock full Summer Movie Blockbusters.
Summer Movie Season 1985
If Summer Movie Seasons have a Golden Age, it would have to be the 1980’s and smack-dab in the middle of that decade is the summer of 1985, which gave us some of the world’s most beloved and iconic films.
Thirty five years ago, Summer began with a movie and a character that seemingly defined the ‘80’s: “Rambo: First Blood Part II.”
From there, audiences were treated to what would become some other, indelible ‘80’s movies that Summer, such as “The Goonies, “Cocoon,” “St. Elmo’s Fire” and “Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.”
The biggest movie of this summer would also become one of the biggest movies of all time, when “Back to the Future” was released over July 4th weekend.
Robert Zemekis’ time travel comedy has gone on to become a beloved favorite of multiple generations and part of every movie lover’s DNA.
Before Summer of 1985 would wrap, audiences would get a darker side of Disney with “Return to Oz” and “The Black Cauldron”, as well as the immensely quotable “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.”
As the ‘80’s would continue, so would movie blockbusters and these would eventually give way to a decade of “gotta-see-it” Summer films.
Summer Movie Season 1990
During the Summer of 1989, “Batman” was released and its astronomical success ushered in an age of “Event Movies.” These were films that were promoted and marketed to such an extent that the release felt less like an opening weekend at the local multiplex and more like an “Event.”
Many of these “Event Movies” came during the Summer and this was definitely true of the first Summer of the ‘90’s.
Thirty years ago, in the summer of 1990, the “Event Movie” that all else began to revolve around was Disney’s “Dick Tracy.” Spring-boarding off the comic book success of “Batman” the year before, Disney made sure that audiences knew - through an onslaught of trailers, commercials, toys, music, theme parks and lots of other promotion - that THIS was the movie to see that Summer.
It was also a Summer of sequels, some of them good (“Back to the Future, Part III”), some not so much (“Another 48 Hours”). Additionally, there were also some major “star power” projects, like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Total Recall” and Tom Cruise’s “Days of Thunder.”
This Summer was also not without its “out of nowhere” surprises, evidenced by “Ghost,” which debuted in mid July and went on to become one of the biggest films of the year and an Oscar nominated Best Picture.
While Summer 1990 definitely had its ups and downs at the box-office and “Dick Tracy” was no where near the blockbuster all had been hoping for, it was one of the films that help set the promotion template for films such as “Jurassic Park,,“ Independence Day,” and a decade full of “Event Movies.”
Summer Movie Season 1995
Twenty-five years ago this Summer, just one year after the immense success of “The Lion King,” Disney was readying for the release of their latest animated movie, “Pocahontas.”
Not only was Mickey’s marketing machine in full swing for the film, but Disney was daring to unveil the film in a massive premiere on the Great Lawn of New York’s Central Park.
“Pocahontas” was a ‘90’s Event Movie in every sense of the word and you couldn’t escape it during the Summer of ‘95.
The Summer of 1995 also became known for “Waterworld,” the epic science fiction film that was more famous for its behind the scenes saga, which is still part of Hollywood legend.
While the Summer was filled with other big Summer-weight releases, like “Casper,” “Judge Dredd” and “Batman Forvever,” it’s also fascinating to look back at a time when Summer Movie Season meant more that just sequels, re-boots and franchises.
The tear jerker “The Bridges of Madison County,” based on the best selling book, the historical epic “Braveheart,” which would win the Best Picture Oscar and the historical drama, “Apollo 13” were all a major part of the Summer movie lineup in ‘95...something that would never happen today.
This year showed, just like everything else in Hollywood, the Summer Movie Season has changed and evolved with the times.
So, as we wait for that day when we can leave a hot, hazy and humid day to find refuge again in an air conditioned theater, these echoes of Summer Movie Seasons past can help show us the impact they’ve had on our Summer Movie Seasons present, as well as those yet to come.
Here’s to a safe Summer for all.
Sources: Wikipedia
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