
Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters
A Hollywood History
Wayne State University Press(Author)
Wayne State University Press
Published on 30. April 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
372 pages
978-0-8143-3008-1 (ISBN)
Description
This title considers the history of the American blockbuster - the large-scale, high-cost film - as it evolved from the 1890s to today. The pantheon of big-budget, commercially successful films encompasses a range of genres, including biblical films, war films, romances, comic-book adaptations, animated features, and historical epics. In ""Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History"", authors Sheldon Hall and Steve Neale discuss the characteristics, history, and modes of distribution and exhibition that unite big-budget pictures, from their beginnings in the late nineteenth century to the present. Moving chronologically, the authors examine the roots of today's blockbuster in the 'feature', 'special', 'superspecial', 'roadshow', 'epic', and 'spectacle' of earlier eras, with special attention to the characteristics of each type of picture. In the first section, Hall and Neale consider the beginnings of features, specials, and superspecials in American cinema, as the terms came to define not the length of a film but its marketable stars or larger budget. The second section investigates roadshowing as a means of distributing specials and the changes to the roadshow that resulted from the introduction of synchronized sound in the 1920s. In the third section, the authors examine the phenomenon of epics and spectacles that arose from films like ""Gone with the Wind"", ""Samson and Deliliah"", and ""Spartacus"" and continues to evolve today in films like ""Spider-Man"" and ""Pearl Harbor"". In this section, Hall and Neale consider advances in visual and sound technology and the effects and costs they introduced to the industry. Scholars of film and television studies as well as readers interested in the history of American moviemaking will enjoy ""Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters"".
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Detroit, MI
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
58 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 254 mm
Width: 178 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
699 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8143-3008-1 (9780814330081)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
04/2010
1st Edition
Wayne State University Press
€42.99
Available for download
Person
Sheldon Hall is a senior lecturer in stage and screen studies at Sheffield Hallam University and author of Zulu: With Some Guts Behind It - The Making of the Epic Film and co-editor (with John Belton and Steve Neale) of Widescreen Worldwide. Steve Neale is professor of English at the University of Exeter and author and editor of several books, most recently, Genre and Contemporary Hollywood.