What Was the Best Summer For Movies in the 1980s?
The decade that defined the blockbuster
The 1980s ushered in the era of big summer blockbusters. Studios now wait for any time after Memorial day to put out the big guns — and this all started in the 80s.
But what was the best summer for movies in the 80s?
The summer movies of the 80s gave us some of the most beloved films in history. Not only were there big blockbusters, but comedy classics, and memorable family films. The summer movies of the 80s were all about fun and adventure.
So which year was the best?
That’s what I’m going to attempt to narrow down here, today.
How Did Big Summer Movies Become a Thing?
We can really chalk this up to George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. This all unofficially started in 1975 when Jaws was released. It became a massive hit and was the highest-grossing film up to that point.
Then, in 1977, Lucas put out a little robots and aliens movie that would change the landscape of Hollywood forever.
They released these movies in the summer, and studios were noticing something: since most people were on vacation, they had been going back to see Jaws and Star Wars countless times.
