This environment of high budgets and the perpetual pursuit of must-see cinematic experiences created a melting pot of innovation that yielded classics in the genres of horror ( The Shining, Hellraiser), fantasy ( The Princess Bride) and science-fiction ( The Terminator, Predator). As a device, this enabled popular cinema to explore dark, visually graphic material without sacrificing audience sizes. Meanwhile, the controversy surrounding gore in films like Indiana Jones (1981) and Gremlins (1984) led to the creation of a new age rating: PG-13. We see James Cameron take Ridley Scott’s claustrophobic horror film Alien (1979) and re-imagine it as a pulse-pounding action flick in Aliens (1986). The 1980s was also the era that brought the rise of the film franchise. A stark example of this period of de-politicized mainstream cinema comes from Die Hard (1988) director John McTiernan: he deliberately included the twist that the ‘terrorist’ villains are in fact simple bank robbers so that the film could be a purely entertaining blockbuster. As Ronald Reagan became America’s first TV-star president, escapist films with high entertainment value became the main currency of Hollywood.

(1982), the ’80s were marked by ‘event’ films that drew unprecedented crowds and laid the foundations for the genre films of today. Opening with The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Indiana Jones (1981) and E.T. The 1980s heralded a move away from the character-driven cinema of earlier decades and brought a renewed focus instead on high-concept blockbusters with the potential to hit colossal audiences.

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