Event film

An event film or event movie is a blockbuster film whose release itself is considered a major event.

It could be a highly anticipated sequel or a big budget film with state-of-the-art special effects or major stars generating considerable attention.^[1] Although it is subjective what is and what isn't considered an event movie, they are usually among the highest-grossing movies in their years of release and become a part of popular culture.

Steven Spielberg's Jaws from 1975 is the first film that was considered an event movie at the time of its release,^[2] but some sources also retroactively apply the term to earlier films such as The Birth of a Nation (1915), Gone with the Wind (1939), and Ben-Hur (1959). Examples more recent than Jaws include Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993), James Cameron's Titanic (1997), Spider-Man (2002) and Avatar (2009) alongside the Star Wars (1977-present), Harry Potter (2001-2011), and Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) films and The Dark Knight (2008). In the 2010s, other event movies include The Hunger Games (2012), Frozen (2013), Deadpool (2016),^[3] and many films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in particular Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). The last huge event film was Avatar: The Way of Water (2022). ^[4][5]

• Event television
• Four-quadrant movie
• List of highest-grossing films
• Media franchise
• National Film Registry
• Tent-pole (entertainment)

• Jöckel, Sven; Döbler, Thomas (2006). "The Event Movie: Marketing Filmed Entertainment forTransnational Media Corporations" (PDF). The International Journal on Media Management. 8 (2). Routledge: 84–91. doi:10.1207/s14241250ijmm0802_4. S2CID 143426106. Retrieved 28 May 2019.