Film 1980s

1980 films

In 1980, many films were produced, also film studios of the time created 'high concept' films. These films easily categorized characters and had familiar plots that could be described briefly. The films were also high on stylish and slick production qualities and aimed for mass appeal all over the world. This give a film its own soundtracks, videos, and promotion though other companies like fast food. The prototypes for 'high concept' films were 'Jaws', 'Star Wars', and 'Alien', all made in the 1970s. Although the prototypes were made in the 1970s, the people credited to creating the 'high concept' films are producer Don Simpson with partner Jerry Bruckheimer. These two created the films 'Flashdance', 'Beverly Hills Cop', and 'Top Gun'.

At this time, pre-teen/teenage comedy was in high production. The top four were 'Porky's', 'Screw Balls', 'Revenge of the Nerds', and 'Hot Dog'. A long with these examples, John Hughes made multiple teen orientated 'coming of age' films. These included 'Sixteen Candles', 'The Breakfast club', 'Weird Science', and 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off''.

1980 was also well known for introducing many sequels. Before 1980, there were very few sequels. Many of the sequels made were usually the same story retold in a different location. An example of this is 'Revenge of the Nerds' having three sequels made. Also, 'Porky's' having two sequels made. John Carpenter's highly successful film 'Halloween', made in 1978, caused the revival of horror films in the 1980s, with well over six sequels produced, and still being released. Some more examples of films with multiple sequels are 'First Blood' with over four sequels, 'Rocky' with six sequels, 'Terminator' with five sequels, 'Indiana Jones' with four sequels, 'Beverly Hills Cop' with four sequels, 'Die Hard' with five sequels, 'Lethal Weapon' with four sequels, 'Karate Kid' with three sequels, 'Ghostbusters' with one sequel, 'Police Academy' with seven sequels, and finally 'Gremlins' with one sequel.

Spoof films (comedy) were also very popular in the 1980s, with the creation of 'Airplane!' with one sequel, 'The Naked Gun' with two sequels, and 'This is Spinal Tap'. With animation at the time, 'Tron' and 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' were made. 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' was the most expensive film in the 1980s, costing 70 million to produce. 

The science fiction films made in the 1980s were 'Blade Runner', 'Thing', 'Robocop', 'E.T.', and 'Back to the Future'. The war films made in 1980 were 'Gallipoli', 'Platoon', 'Full Metal Jacket', and 'Born on the Fourth of July'. The dance films made in the 1980s were 'Flashdance', 'Footloose', and 'Dirty Dancing'. The adventure films made in 1980 were 'The Goonies', 'The NeverEnding Story' which had two sequels produced, and 'Labyrinth'.

Marvel created the character 'Howard the Duck' in 1977. Disney threatened to sue Marvel over how similar Howard the Duck looked to Donald Duck. Marvel, in response, gave Howard the Duck pants. Howard the Duck was made into a film in 1986 and is regarded as one of the worst and least successful big-budget films ever made.

The well known 'Superman' was made in 1978 with three sequels made throughout the 1980s. The first 'Batman' was created in 1966, however, the more well known Burton's Batman  was released in 1989. This was a huge success making over one billion dollars in profit, $400 million in film screenings and $700 million in merchandise.

Here are some more examples of films that made more money on the merchandise than the film itself:

• Transformers - $7 billion, not counting home video revenue being only $740 million
• Cars - $10 billion in global merchandising
• Frozen - $1.27 billion at box-office, $5 billion in 2014
• Minions - $267 million merchandising in 2014 alone, now $2.5 billion from just retail sales

https://www.ranker.com/list/movies-that-made-money-merchandising/jacob-shelton