The History and Evolution of the Summer Blockbuster

Roland Emmerich Changes the Summer Movie Forever

It could be easy to consider Jurassic Park as the last of the old school blockbusters, those “big” films that still maintained reasonable budgets and a loyalty to traditional narrative elements (like characters that develop and stories that innovate). In 1996, however, Roland Emmerich heralded the modern age of the summer blockbuster with a jaw-droppingly beautiful science fiction film that relied almost entirely on moment-to-moment enjoyment. Watching the White House blow up was breathtaking (and it still holds up). Listening to Will Smith’s endless string of one-liners was delightful. Seeing the heroes triumph was inspiring. All that being said, in spite of the fact that Independence Day is rewatch-able fun, it’s still not exactly a “good” movie. This reliance on spectacle over substance would become indelibly connected with summer movies for the next decade.