The age of the blockbuster may finally be coming to an end, for now
What happened to these mid-range movies.
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There is a dim light at the end of the blockbuster tunnel. With smaller and medium-sized films like Trap, Smile 2, Nosferatu and Mickey 17 dominating conversations and studio presentations at this year's CinemaCon, the trade show for all things theatrical, and similarly budgeted films continuing to post impressive box office gains, one question lies in the air: Can the mid-budget film make a comeback?
Hollywood's current obsession with movies that cost north of $150 million and take up half the screens at multiplexes has a few different reasons, but the easiest to point to is that they all wear coats. After the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the studios focused on chasing the Marvel formula, with big, expensive movies aiming to make a billion dollars or more at the box office. Blockbuster movies have been a critical part of the theatrical landscape since the term was coined in the 1950s, but the age of the billion-dollar blockbuster created a new blockbuster craze for studios, and especially for ambitious studio executives. As tentpole films increased in size, scope and budget, they quickly began crowding out smaller projects.
