to demand more money in return for videocassette
and cable distribution rights. Revenue from VCR
and cable television distribution of a film frequently
exceeded the film’s box-office gross.
Film marketing in the 1980’s achieved new heights
through publicity and merchandising of film-related
products. Marketing departments sought to create
as many “event films” as possible, frequently promot-
ing run-of-the-mill films as spectacular ones. Studios
also bought into cinema chains, effectively reestab-
lishing a form of monopoly known as vertical inte-
gration that had been common during early classical
cinema but was ruled illegal in 1948 by the U.S. Su-
preme Court. This practice proved profitable to stu-
dios in the 1980’s era of big business. Also, with the
rise in the number of studios being taken over by
conglomerates, financial decisions were no longer
made by directors but were instead made by attor-
neys and consultants whose goals were entirely fi-
nancial rather than aesthetic. As film budgets sky-
rocketed, many studio executives built their releases
around popular film actors who were thought of as
box-office draws. Such actors were secured for a
given studio through long-term contracts, and their
profit-generating potential was such that they could
become “attached” to projects that as yet had no
script or director.
Films of the decade often relied on technical in-
novation in the absence of challenging or thought-
provoking narratives. Newly developed technolo-
gies were evident in the reemergence of animated
features. Earlier cartoons had often been distin-
guished by low budgets and rough animation. In
1982, however, Don Bluth and his Disney-trained an-
imators madeThe Secret of NIMH, and in 1986, they
completedAn American Tail, the first animated film
produced by Steven Spielberg. Excellently animated,
these films utilized the rotoscoping technique, in
which the human characters were shot live and then
traced onto animation cels, providing a more hu-
man look for those characters.
A New Mythology Beginning with George Lucas’s
Star Warsin 1977 and continuing into the 1980’s,
film technology advanced by leaps and bounds.
Dolby stereo created revolutionary sound technolo-
gies, and Lucas founded Industrial Light and Magic
(ILM), a company devoted to providing special vi-
sual effects for major motion pictures. Lucas thus of-
fered to other filmmakers the same groundbreaking
technologies he developed to complete hisStar Wars
trilogy. His filmsThe Empire Strikes Back(1980) andThe
Return of the Jedi(1983) each advanced filmmaking
technology significantly, greatly expanding the me-
dium’s ability to create believable mythical worlds
and immerse audiences within them. The trilogy
thus laid the foundation for a major impulse of the
1980’s—that of providing a means for American
viewers of mainstream films to escape the present
and immerse themselves in older traditions of ro-
mance and mythology.
In 1981, Lucas produced and co-authoredRaiders
of the Lost Ark, directed by Spielberg, which grossed
$282 million. The film concerned Indiana Jones, an
adventurous character created by Lucas whose esca-
pades transported audiences back to the 1930’s and
1940’s Saturday afternoon serials, and engendered
two sequels,Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(1984) andIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade(1989).
Jones’s battles to restrain evil forces became a fore-
runner for the heroic efforts of John Rambo (played
by Sylvester Stallone) inRambo: First Blood Part II
(1985). Rambo’s single-handed rescue of American
prisoners in Southeast Asia—despite the military’s
and the Central Intelligence Agency’s attempts to
undermine him—enacted a fantasy of the heroic
American soldier symbolically winning the Vietnam
War. In theRockyseries (1976, 1979, 1982, 1985, and
1990), the fierce determination of Rocky Balboa
(also played by Stallone) to win against overwhelm-
ing odds similarly depicted the blue-collar worker’s
victory, thereby validating the American Dream, al-
beit a version tainted by racism.Teen Films Adult audiences were impressed by
the striking photography and Dolby sound in such
well-received films asAmadeus(1984), directed by
Milos Forman;The Color Purple(1985), directed by
Spielberg;Aliens(1986), directed by James Cam-
eron;The Untouchables(1987), directed by Brian De
Palma; andOut of Africa(1987), directed by Sydney
Pollack. Many other directors, however, had fol-
lowed the lead of Lucas and Spielberg in tapping
into the lucrative teen market and blending action
and adventure with science fiction to achieve box-
office successes. Apparently spurred on by the
phenomenal success of Spielberg’sE.T.: The Extra-
Terrestrial(1982), in 1984 Ivan Reitman and Joe
Dante released bothGhostbustersandGremlins, which
were box-office successes.370 Film in the United States The Eighties in America