The 1980s was arguably one of the best decades for movies. Ever. If it's not the best, it is definitely high in the rankings. Film in the 80s had its highs and lows, but all in all, its impact was everlasting.
Many films that we consider classics today were from the 80s. But what's interesting is that some of them weren't the most popular back then. For example, The Shining, who many today consider to be a classic horror film, got trashed by critics when it first opened in 1980. All it took was a little time for people to realize its greatness.
However, there are also some classics from the 80s that were instant blockbusters, and still are. Both Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi were smash hits, the Indiana Jones series rose in popularity, and E.T. was the highlight of the summer of 1982.
Watching movies at home became popular for the first time in history in 1983, and Raiders of the Lost Ark sold $20 million worth of VHS tapes. However, this led to problems with piracy because video cassettes became very easy to duplicate.
The film industry hit a bump in the road in the middle of the decade, but whether it was good or bad depends on personal opinion. Financially, 1985 was the worst year for box offices since 1968. Critics believed that the problem was due to an overabundance of "teen movies." Most of the dozens of teenage flicks during the year were flops, with the exception of The Breakfast Club.
On the other hand, some people argue that 1985 was the last great year of film for kids and young adults because of all those "teen movies." Nowadays, kids and young adult movies are all either animated, an adaption of an angsty young adult novel, or part of a billion dollar superhero franchise. While these are all great, they don't compare to the movies produced in the 1980s.
1986 was just as big of a disappointment as 1985. All of the movies became predictable because of the lack of technological advancement in the film industry. The only new technique was colorization, but that was a huge controversy. Some companies re-released old movies in color, but other filmmakers called it "cultural butchery" and urged the public to boycott these releases.
The film industry bounced back in 1987 with broken box office records and an increasing number of rentals. For the rest of the decade, movies like Dirty Dancing, Rain Man, Die Hard, and Driving Miss Daisy were wildly popular. Although the film industry was a rollercoaster in the 1980s, it was actually extremely successful when looking back on it in its entirety.
Sources:
https://www.retrowaste.com/1980s/movies-in-the-1980s/
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/03/why-the-1980s-is-the-last-great-decade-in-youth-films/385295/
However, there are also some classics from the 80s that were instant blockbusters, and still are. Both Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi were smash hits, the Indiana Jones series rose in popularity, and E.T. was the highlight of the summer of 1982.
Watching movies at home became popular for the first time in history in 1983, and Raiders of the Lost Ark sold $20 million worth of VHS tapes. However, this led to problems with piracy because video cassettes became very easy to duplicate.
On the other hand, some people argue that 1985 was the last great year of film for kids and young adults because of all those "teen movies." Nowadays, kids and young adult movies are all either animated, an adaption of an angsty young adult novel, or part of a billion dollar superhero franchise. While these are all great, they don't compare to the movies produced in the 1980s.
1986 was just as big of a disappointment as 1985. All of the movies became predictable because of the lack of technological advancement in the film industry. The only new technique was colorization, but that was a huge controversy. Some companies re-released old movies in color, but other filmmakers called it "cultural butchery" and urged the public to boycott these releases.
The film industry bounced back in 1987 with broken box office records and an increasing number of rentals. For the rest of the decade, movies like Dirty Dancing, Rain Man, Die Hard, and Driving Miss Daisy were wildly popular. Although the film industry was a rollercoaster in the 1980s, it was actually extremely successful when looking back on it in its entirety.
Sources:
https://www.retrowaste.com/1980s/movies-in-the-1980s/
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/03/why-the-1980s-is-the-last-great-decade-in-youth-films/385295/
I didn't know that so many of films we consider very popular and "classics" weren't as well-liked when they first debuted. The movie "Back to the Future" was the highest-grossing movie of 1985, yet the script for it was rejected over 40 times by every major studio. Disney even said that the script was too "dirty." Similarly, the movie "Blade Runner" is considered one of the best science fiction movies today, but it was heavily criticized and modified many times during its production in the 80s.
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This was a very well detailed article that highlighted the the best decade of movies. It was very interesting to see how many of our beloved franchises started and the initial public reaction to them. For example, there were movies like Back to the Future and Star Wars whose scripts were rejected by many studios before being accepted and produced into the movies we love today. The 80s definitely was the peak of movies in America at least.
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