The birth of the summer blockbuster is usually dated to the monstrously profitable release of Jaws, in 1975, or Star Wars, in 1977, depending on whom you ask. But if you ask Chris Nashawaty—author of The Future Was Now: Madmen, Mavericks, and the Epic Sci-Fi Summer of 1982—a different annus mirabilispredicts today’s superhero era of fan-friendly fantasy. In 1982, a wave of outlandish genre movies crowded Hollywood’s center stage as never before, led by a new box-office champ, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, which weighed in at $359 million.
Nashawaty details the making of—deep breath—E.T., Blade Runner, Poltergeist, Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, Tron, The Thing, and Conan the Barbarian. The Entertainment Weekly alum describes a perilous marriage of convenience between a fresh cadre of dazzling world-builders and financial backers who saw Star Wars–style dollar signs. Toggling through the movies like a Christopher Nolan montage, he plays up the risks for an industry that saw these movies as kids’ stuff, or folly, at a time when the Henry Fonda weepie On Golden Pond could still command over $100 million at the box office.
