There’s been lots of media coverage recently about the 40th anniversary of the film “Back To The Future” and the stage musical version, currently running in London has been a massive success, with fans of the original film returning to see it multiple times.
A touring version of the show will hit the road next year, although at the moment, the closest it’ll come to Wales is the Bristol Hippodrome.
I’ve seen all three “Back To The Future” films, but unfortunately, to quote Eric Morecambe, not necessarily in the right order.
I don’t recall why, but I saw “Back To The Future 3” first, then “BTTF 2” and eventually the original.
It messed with my head, so I felt like Marty McFly, travelling back and forth through time inside Doc Brown’s DeLorean.
Similarly, I saw “Jaws 2” before the original “Jaws”, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year!
Discussions about the film invariably claim that it was “The first ever summer blockbuster”.
While it made more money ($400 million) than any film previously released during the summer, many of the articles, written by people who weren’t born in 1975, would have us believe it was the first successful film ever released during the summer months. Hmm . . .
In the 1950s and 60s, Disney regularly released ‘big hitters’ during the summer and although lacking Jaws’ massive ad campaign, thrilling adventure films, like “Hercules Unchained”, “The Lost World” and “The Treasure Of Monte Cristo” had been huge summer holiday hits in the early 1960s.
Once American and British studios realised they could make money with summer releases, they rolled them out by the dozen!
Cinemas of the early to mid 60s offered patrons exciting attractions like “Mysterious Island” and “Jason & The Argonauts”, while in the summer of 1968, audiences queued around the block to see “2001: A Space Odyssey”. They may not have understood the ending, but it made a fortune.
So, next time someone claims ‘Jaws’ was the first big box office success of the summer, tell them they’re going to need a bigger knowledge.