Blockbuster: How the Jaws and Jedi Generation Turned Hollywood into a Boom-town [Paperback]

'A very funny, original, clever, knowledgeable, cheerful, well researched, well argued and beautifully written book. I loved it' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'The film book of the year . . . Enthralling . . . Groundbreaking' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'I can’t think of another critic who has written so intelligently – and thoughtfully – about blockbusters as a genre' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'[Shone] writes brilliantly . . . A piercing insight into the moneyed madness of modern film-making' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'[Shone's] sinewy critical perceptions are on coruscating form in this fast-moving account of Hollywood's last thirty years' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Definitive . . . An incisive study of the movie-making machine, and unmissable reading for cinema buffs' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The unmistakable opening bars of John Williams' score for JAWS heralded not just the arrival of a man-eating shark, but the appearance of a new type of movie. Fast, visceral, and devouring all in its path, the summer blockbuster had arrived. But having brought audiences back to theatres in record numbers, the beast then took on a life of its own, and by the 1990s had run completely out of control. Are the studios even in the movie business any more? Or are they just in the blockbuster business? Written with a passion of a true movie fan, and the wit of one of our best critics, Tom Shone's book is the first to try to make sense of this global phenomenon. He has interviewed all the key participants -- from directors like Spielberg and Lucas to the executives who greenlight these behemoths, down to the effects boffins who detonated the Death Star and blew up the White House -- and produced what is easily the most incisive and entertaining book about film since Peter Biskind's EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS.

'Blockbuster is compelling, witty, authoritative, and very, very smart . . . A work of great critical intelligence' Nick Hornby, The Believer

‘A witty counterblast to Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Tom Shone’s Blockbuster looks at event movies from Jaws to The Lord of the Rings, takes them seriously, listens to their makers and decisively challenges the idea that the rot set in with Star Wars. Shone writes as an enthusiast as well as a critic, and he sees reflected in blockbusters the history of Hollywood in the last thirty years. For once, this is not about "rise and fall" or "artists against the system" but about the realities of the film business’
CHRISTOPHER FRAYLING --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

TOM SHONE was born in Horsham in 1967. From 1994 to 1999 he was the film critic of the Sunday Times, and has since written for a number of publications including the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Daily Telegraph and Vogue. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. This is his first book. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.