The Evolution of Hollywood's Calculated Blockbuster Films by Alexander Ross

In this book, Alexander Ross highlights how creative entrepreneurs saved the Hollywood studios in the 1970s by establishing the calculated blockbuster, consisting of key replicable markers of success, as Hollywood's preeminent business model. Ross demonstrates how visionary individuals such as Coppola, Spielberg, Lucas, and Zemeckis helped create the modern, calculated blockbuster business model (BBM). However, with the rise of streaming giants such as Netflix and the studios struggling to compete, many consumers of entertainment now elect to partake from the comfort of their homes, making the difference between "cinema" and "television" anachronistic. Revisiting the history of those pioneering 1970s blockbusters, Ross offers distinct analysis about whether or not the calculated blockbuster can continue to lead, or whether the streamers will continue to generate their own content and, eventually, fully control the dissemination process. Scholars of film studies, screenwriting, and popular culture will find this book of particular interest

Alexander Ross is a visiting scholar in the faculty of history at the University of Oxford.