ABSTRACT
Spectacle, spectacular imagery; sheer scale, lavishness and (hopefully) quality of big-screen audio-visual sensation: however the blockbuster is defined, qualities such as these have often been close to the center of its appeal, from the early Italian historical epics of the 1910s to today’s digital special-effects extravaganzas. Overt, large-scale spectacle is not a major feature of all films that enjoy blockbuster-scale success at the box office. But it is often a major ingredient at the high-budget end of the spectrum and in production and/or distribution-led definitions of the blockbuster. The spectacular variety of blockbuster, on which this chapter focuses, is usually meant to constitute an “event,” something that stands out from the cinematic routine. It is sold this way even if the formation of the “event” itself becomes routinized, as is the case in contemporary Hollywood, where the heavily preplanned and presold prospective blockbuster is a central feature around which each year’s slate of production revolves, rather than something that departs from the norm. A substantial part of the appeal of many blockbusters lies precisely in the scale of spectacular audio-visual experience that is offered, in contrast to the smaller-scale resources of rival films or media. The definition of the blockbuster in terms of spectacle (as with other attributes such as length and budget) tends to be relative rather than absolute.
