Student Reports on Upcoming Movies

Feature

By Joshua Haight

Husky Herald Reporter

 In the many decades of cinema, there have been only a few precise years that stand out as the biggest years in cinematic history. Years like 1984 with titles like The Terminator, The Karate Kid, Footloose and Ghostbusters, and 1994 with The Shawshank Redemption, Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction stand out most prominently in this category.

  In the dawn of these years, the box office success of their films depended upon marketing through magazines, television commercials, and critics’ reviews. There were no internet marketing ploys and not much was known about the films that were coming out until they hit theaters.

  In the past twenty years much has changed in film. Internet was integrated into marketing and buzz/excitement became expressed through social networks.

  In a big box office year like 1984, there was no definite slate as to how many films would come out that year or what they would be. Though a myriad of film attributes have remained the same, we now know what films are being released, when they are released and have a rough guess as to what they will be about.

  Revolutionizing the box office year, 2015 stands to be the next legend in cinema. It seems that every movie studio has joined the competition for box office hits during this year. Why is that? Well, I think that films predetermined with this release year stood in their position and other films began to jump on the bandwagon and closely follow.

  In about 2012, the makers of franchises such as Star Wars, The Avengers, Fast and the Furious, and Jurassic Park arranged far away release dates for the purpose of production time. It all started with those arrangements and faded into a stuttering competition.

This competition led to the year 2015 becoming the base ground for high budget comic book/ action film franchises to sink their teeth into box office dollars. Though these films are welcomed with open arms, competition will be steep in terms of how much money will be earned, as opposed to actual quality of film.

  And I’m not saying these movies will be unsatisfactory. All I’m saying is that people can get confused with the difference between quality and explosions, which it looks like a lot of 2015 movies are going to have.

  I think filmgoers will have to be open to new, strange, and ambitious movies of this year and let go of the movie stereotypes implanted in their brains because a myriad of different films , ranging from the
Wachowskis’ Jupiter Ascending to Neill Blomkamp’s Chappie, are sure to confuse and amaze audiences everywhere.

We, as filmgoers just need to keep an open mind in order to enjoy our movie experience. So sit back in that theater seat, open your eyes, and open your mind because 2015, possibly the biggest and greatest year in cinematic history, has already begun.