History, Legacy & Showmanship
“It has the personality not of a particular movie but of a product, of something arrived at by corporate decision.” — Vincent Canby, The New York Times
Blockbuster. Juggernaut. Game Changer.
The event, or tentpole, film was taken to new heights during the summer of 1989, and the industry hasn’t been the same since. Sure, there were hits — and megahits — before, but everything this did was new, unorthodox or amplified: mass-saturation marketing, title-less posters, narration-less trailers, loads of tie-in merchandise, dual soundtrack release, one-day-early sneak-preview screenings, anti-piracy electronic-coded release prints, shattered box-office records, home-video release while still in theaters, franchise. [Read on here…]
“Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. No job is too big. No fee is too big.”
The Digital Bits is pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 30th anniversary of the release of Ghostbusters, the supernatural comedy and smash hit of the summer of ’84 that introduced the world to Slimer, the Ecto-1, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man and unlicensed nuclear accelerators. The Bits celebrates the occasion with this retrospective featuring some quotes from movie critics, production & exhibition trivia, a list of the movie’s deluxe 70-millimeter presentations, and a compilation of box-office data that places the movie’s performance in context. [Read on here…]
“Get a Life!” exclaimed William Shatner to a legion of Star Trek fans in a classic 1986 Saturday Night Live skit. Among those who did indeed get a life were Mark A. Altman and Robert Meyer Burnett. The pair succeeded in creating Free Enterprise, the affectionate 1999 comedy about a pair of pop culture geeks who meet their idol, William Shatner. Be careful about wanting to meet your heroes may have been the moral of the story as Mark (Eric McCormack) and Robert (Rafer Weigel) discover Mr. Shatner is not quite the person they think he is. [Read on here…]
“This picture is not called The Temple of Roses; it is called The Temple of Doom. The warning is clearly marked on the box.” — Steven Spielberg
The Digital Bits is pleased to present this retrospective commemorating the 30th anniversary of the release of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the follow-up to the incredibly popular Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The Bits celebrates the occasion with this retrospective column. It features some quotes from movie critics, some trivia on the film, an interview segment (featuring film historians Scott Higgins and Eric Lichtenfeld), a list of the movie’s premium-format (70mm) presentations, and a compilation of box-office data that places the movie’s performance in context. [Read on here…]
A Few Minutes With Writer-Director Phil Alden Robinson
The Digital Bits is pleased to present this retrospective article commemorating the silver anniversary of the release of Field of Dreams, the acclaimed fantasy-drama starring Kevin Costner as an Iowa farmer who hears voices telling him to build a baseball diamond in his cornfield. The sentimental and magical journey about much more than just baseball also starred Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta, and Burt Lancaster. [Read more here...]