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The summer blockbuster has been a tradition of Hollywood for four decades now, and given how much money it generates for the industry, it shouldn't be surprising that the practice of releasing big-budget, hugely-marketed high-concept films has expanded far beyond any conventional definition of the word "summer".
The majority of these films fall into one of several categories: good, forgettably entertaining, or terrible, but some dare to dream bigger and, with their ambition, technical craft and sheer emotional heft, manage to graduate to be something more than merely a juggernaut to print money.
At its best, the summer blockbuster can act as a dream factory, placing our most elaborate dreams on the screen for all to enjoy, and the result is often a movie which will stay with audiences their entire lives. This is what all summer tentpoles should aspire to, rather than, well, the Transformers franchise.
Naturally, whittling down the hundreds of summer blockbusters to just 20 movies is no mean feat, so don't be surprised if more than a few pf your personal treasures didn't quite make the cut, but these solid gold classics nevertheless best exemplify that giddy, child-like feeling of wonder, that adrenaline-pulsing excitement that makes going to the movies such a blast in the first place.
Without any further ado, here are the 20 greatest summer blockbusters of all time...
20. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
RottenTomatoes Score: 93% (8.3/10 average)
Box Office: $783.8 million
Why It's Awesome: After Sam Raimi blew audiences away with the first cinematic take on Spider-Man in 2002, he delivered an altogether superior sequel in 2004, boasting a better villain, stronger action sequences and more meaningful character development.
In many ways, Spider-Man 2 is everything a sequel should be: it tops what came before while retaining the soul and core themes of the original. Great as Tobey Maguire is in the title role, the show is frequently stolen by Alfred Molina's Doc Ock, a magnificent creation combining state-of-the-art visual effects (which have aged exceptionally well) and an outstanding turn from Molina.
Spidey 2 gets right what so many superhero films get wrong: it features a thrilling pyrotechnic show while still remembering to plumb the depths of its characters. Sure, there's a little campy cheese here and there, but it's easy to forgive.
19. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
RottenTomatoes Score: 93% (8/10)
Box Office: $442.8 million
Why It's Awesome: Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon re-teamed to deliver the smartest and most thrilling entry into the Bourne trilogy (because who counts the Jeremy Renner one, right?). This is unarguably one of the tightest spy thrillers ever made, scripted for maximum efficiency and directed with Greengrass' ever-steady hand.
Damon delivers his best work as the title character, though that's hardly surprising given how high the stakes are this time, and there are also some fine parts here for the likes of David Strathairn, Joan Allen and Julia Stiles in particular.
If you ever wanted to see a guy beat another guy up with a phone book and then choke him to death with a tea-towel, then this is the movie for you. Though there's some worry that the upcoming fourth Damon-starring Bourne film will undo Ultimatum's superbly satisfying ending, even a dud sequel can do little to ruin the mastery on display here.
18. Speed (1994)
RottenTomatoes Score: 93% (7.9/10)
Box Office: $350.4 million
Why It's Awesome: In many ways the ultimate high-concept action film, Speed could have been hilariously inane in lesser hands, but with a surprisingly witty script (thanks to some uncredited work by Joss Whedon, no doubt), thrilling direction from Jan de Bont and a string of terrific performances, this is one of the most entertaining blockbusters of all time.
The concept, of a bus which will explode if it drops below 50 miles per hour, is so devilishly simple yet insanely effective: tension leaks out of almost every frame in the film once the scenario has been set-up, aided hugely by Dennis Hopper's amusingly over-the-top work as villain Howard Payne.
Though Reeves is often derided for his earlier acting work, he's perfectly-cast as hot-headed cop Jack Travern, and his chemistry with Sandra Bullock, in her star-making role, is a joy to observe. As for Bullock, she steals countless scenes she's in, her incredulity reflecting the audience's own stunned amazement at what's going on.
Packing an unfathomable amount of action into its 116 minute run-time, Speed leaves almost all other suspense thrillers in the dust, a shining example of basic thrills done right.
17. The Avengers (2012)
RottenTomatoes Score: 92% (8/10)
Box Office: $1.519 billion
Why It's Awesome: Even with Joss Whedon writing and directing, few could have expected The Avengers to be such an awesome sum of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's collective parts.
Bringing together the franchise's headlining superheroes could have been a recipe for messy disaster, yet Whedon's intimate knowledge of these characters combined with his penchant for stinging dialogue ensures this 2012 mega-blockbuster remains the best of the 11 MCU films to date.
The unquestionable highlights are Tom Hiddleston as hilariously smarmy villain Loki, and of course Mark Ruffalo as the recast Bruce Banner, whose Hulk is easily the greatest screen portrayal of the character to date.
Though the opening is a little shaky and it's probably one of the most generically-shot films on this list, the wit, the personality and the riveting action makes it one of the very best comic book films ever.
16. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
RottenTomatoes Score: 97% (8.6/10)
Box Office: $378.4 million
Why It's Awesome: Three decades after the last Mad Max film was released, director George Miller, now 70 years old, returns with what is somehow not only the best film in the series, but easily 2015's best action film, and an instant all-time classic.
Given the difficult shoot, recasting of the title character and intermediate period between movies, it would have been easy for Fury Road to be a disaster of epic proportions that simply failed to connect with audiences. Thankfully, the total opposite was true.
Tom Hardy gives a physical, near-wordless performance as Max Rockatansky this time, doing a lot of his best work tied to the front of a car. Miller has made a joyous art spectacle out of the film's lengthy and numerous chase sequences, boasting eye-wateringly gorgeous cinematography and physical stunts you'll scarcely believe didn't result in a number of dead stuntmen. Then there's the costumes, the editing, the sound design, the score... everything.
Performance-wise, though, the film is promptly stolen away by Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa, one of the strongest and most interesting female characters in the history of action cinema.
It's tough to imagine any action fan not losing their mind over Miller's bracingly intense action film, which sets an extremely high bar for future similar films.
15. The Matrix (1999)
RottenTomatoes Score: 87% (7.6/10)
Box Office: $463.5 million
Why It's Awesome: Now, this one's a bit of a cheat considering that The Matrix was originally released on March 31st, 1999, but with the start of "summer" blockbuster season being progressively pushed back to April (The Fast and the Furious movies) and now even March (Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), it seems somewhat acceptable.
Few directors could take heady philosophical concepts and inject them into an action film while destroying the box office and creating a pop-culture phenomenon, but that's exactly what the Wachowskis did. The Matrix broke new ground with its provocative ideas about reality and existence, while the jaw-dropping action sequences created a popular Hollywood aesthetic that still persists today.
Keanu Reeves gives one of his better performances here as the empty shell who slowly gains a soul, Neo, while Hugo Weaving, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pantoliano are all excellent in their respective, iconic roles.
It goes without saying that the film's influence has been felt in countless action films over the years, and it's destined to endure over the decades as a benchmark for effects-soaked action filmmaking. It's also aged insanely well.
14. Die Hard (1988)
RottenTomatoes Score: 92% (8.4/10)
Box Office: $140.7 million
Why It's Awesome: Die Hard practically invented (or at least perfected) the formula that has been endlessly imitated over the years: a wise-cracking lone wolf hero treks through , picking off his enemies in order to save the day and get the girl.
This John McTiernan-directed masterpiece has much more than mere basic thrills to offer, though: it's an expertly-plotted, hilariously witty and action-packed thriller filled with fine performances, especially Bruce Willis in his star-making turn as protagonist John McClane, and Alan Rickman as slick villain Hans Gruber.
Die Hard is a perfect example of how to balance tone in a blockbuster: it's full of brutal violence, but it's also frequently funny, and never lets one overpower the other. Plus, if all this wasn't enough, it's one of the best Christmas movies of all time.
13. Alien (1979)
RottenTomatoes Score: 97% (9/10)
Box Office: $104.9–203.6 million (yes, somewhere in that range, apparently...)
Why It's Awesome: Ridley Scott proved with Alien that not every blockbuster needed to be filled with thrill-a-minute action and peppy dialogue. His slow-moving, quietly tense sci-fi horror film mined tremendous amounts of suspense out of its claustrophobic spaceship setting and the mystery surrounding what quite had made its way on board.
Simply, it's a film full of surprises. Sigourney Weaver's Ellen Ripley is something of a stealth protagonist, given that Tom Skerritt's Dallas is originally clearly positioned to be the hero of the piece. Then there's the iconic chestburster scene, which of course kick-starts the utterly terrifying game of cat and mouse which forms the majority of the rest of the film.
The production design, effects, score, direction and script are all top-notch, though it's Weavers performance which gives the film its soul, and has made the series endure despite its numerous creative missteps over the years.
12. Inception (2010)
RottenTomatoes Score: 86% (8.1/10)
Box Office: $825.5 million
Why It's Awesome: Often cited by some as a spiritual successor of sorts to The Matrix. Christopher Nolan's follow-up to The Dark Knight bears many similar hallmarks: it's super-smart, deals with existential issues, and features ground-breaking, mind-boggling action sequences.
Few directors could have made head or tail of such a complex web of ideas, namely the dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream (within-a-dream-within-a-dream) concept, yet the result is one of the most intellectually ambitious and startlingly original action films ever made.
Viewers certainly need to pay attention to understand every minute detail of Inception's logic, yet patient, switched-on audiences will find a ton to marvel at, and that's without even talking about the standard of the visual effects, cinematography, editing (which somehow was snubbed for an Oscar nomination), Hans Zimmer's score, and almost every performance in the movie.
Nolan's films are often criticised for being emotionally cold, yet Inception felt like a significant step forward for the writer-director, taking humanist ideas of family and transposing them onto zero-gravity hallway fights, James Bond-style ski chases and so on.
Plus, isn't that ending just wonderfully infuriating?
11. Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
RottenTomatoes Score: 96% (9.2/10)
Box Office: $389.9 million
Why It's Awesome: Raiders of the Lost Ark practically invented the modern action adventure film formula, and of course, is responsible for creating one of the most iconic and entertaining movie characters in history, Indiana Jones himself.
You'd need a heart of stone not to be charmed by Steven Spielberg's exceptionally smart, witty and thrilling homage to the classic serials of the 1930s and 1940s, resulting in a rare film that has an almost equal appeal to both children and adults.
Harrison Ford is, of course, magnificent as Indy, effortlessly charismatic and going on a charm offensive throughout which only makes Lawrence Kasdan's splendid script shine even brighter.
The contemporary adventure film would look mighty different (and surely a lot worse) without Raiders, and so it's unsurprising you'll struggle to find someone who doesn't love it.
10. Toy Story 3 (2010)
RottenTomatoes Score: 99% (8.9/10)
Box Office: $1.063 billion
Why It's Awesome: Few movie studios can get two perfect movies out of a franchise, yet Pixar somehow managed to get three with Toy Story, and the third film is quite arguably the best of them.
What takes Toy Story 3 to the next level is the pervasive feeling of finality and "this is it" throughout, sure to wring easy tears of both nostalgia and longing from anyone who grew up with the movies.
Though this is certainly the darkest and most mature film of the trilogy, it still doesn't forget to train its focus on hilarious sight gags (Mr. Tortilla Head is an all-timer masterstroke of slapstick), wonderful new characters and a thrilling sense of adventure.
That it all culminates in unarguably one of the most satisfying and emotional endings in movie history is just the icing on the cake. Though it's a shame that Pixar is upending this with Toy Story 4, many fans may simply choose to leave it at "So long, partner."
As if that's not enough of an endorsement, Quentin Tarantino rather hilariously declared it his favourite film of 2010.
9. Star Wars (1977)
RottenTomatoes Score: 94% (8.6/10)
Box Office: $775.4 million
Why It's Awesome: For starters, it's one of the most influential films ever made, ushering in an era of visually stunning sci-fi flicks, most of which attempted to ape the iconic space opera, though few have truly succeeded in living up to it.
The beauty is in the film's simplicity: it lives and breathes on the strength of its familiar yet tremendously entertaining characters, while George Lucas' world-building is simply immaculate, and of course, the movie introduced the world to Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher.
Even had Star Wars not spawned a mammoth franchise of merchandise and tangential stories, the original would still stand tall as a testament to the power of unique ideas, colourful characters and the wonder of space.
And yes, Han shot first.
8. E.T. (1982)
RottenTomatoes Score: 98% (9.2/10)
Box Office: $792.9 million
Why It's Awesome: E.T. is the reason people go to the movies, to be presented with an experience unlike anything you can encounter in real life, and be left in absolute awe of. Unquestionably one of Steven Spielberg's biggest triumphs, this superb sci-fi manages to be visually stunning, narratively engrossing and dramatically buoyant all at once.
Spielberg is often criticised for being a "confectioner" and leaning too heavily on sentimentality, but this is one movie where his approach unequivocally works: the bond between a young boy and his new pet alien is so self-evident that it doesn't need to be forced, and as such the inevitable pay-off effortlessly moves audiences to tears.
In addition, there's a terrific John Williams score, a very young Drew Barrymore, and an arc that runs the gamut of human emotion. Even as you get older and more cynical, your inner-child will cling eagerly to this unflappable family classic.
7. Aliens (1986)
RottenTomatoes Score: 98% (9/10)
Box Office: $131.1–183.3 million (what is it with the Alien movies and these ambiguous figures?)
Why It's Awesome: Aliens is the textbook example of how to craft a sequel that's fundamentally different to what came before, yet nevertheless doesn't undermine the original.
Rather than simply repeat Ridley Scott's slow-burn suspense film, James Cameron decided to make of Aliens a high-tech, blisteringly intense war film, with a group of hilariously hot-headed marines getting summarily slaughtered by a fleet of Xenomorphs.
Though this itself would probably have been enough to make Aliens an entertaining sequel, Cameron of course threw Ripley back into the mix for kicks, while transforming her into a fully-able, kick-a** femme fatale, just one of Cameron's many superb female protagonists over the years.
Cameron's direction and script, the production design, editing, score, visual effects and so on are all first-rate, though what really makes Aliens work in conjunction with its stomach-knotting intensity is both Weaver's performance (for which she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar) and the unexpected character depth, especially in the movie's Special Edition.
6. Jurassic Park (1993)
RottenTomatoes Score: 93% (8.3/10)
Box Office: $1.029 billion
Why It's Awesome: It's a film whose success is so self-evident it barely feels like mentioning: Steven Spielberg's sci-fi adventure film took the concept of dinosaurs existing in the modern world and made it a reality with mind-meltingly impressive visual effects and animatronics. In many ways, Jurassic Park is the magic of cinema defined.
That the movie also features a ton of entertaining characters (especially Jeff Goldblum's Dr. Ian Malcolm), a wonderful score and a plethora of sustained suspense sequences is just extra gravy. Spielberg created artificial dinosaurs which never felt less-than-convincing, and even watching the movie nowadays on Blu-ray, it's lost little of its magic, out-doing effects-driven movies still hitting cinemas today.
Even though the sequels to date haven't exactly given the series a stellar overall reputation, the original has endured as one of the most accomplished, intelligent and pure examples of the Hollywood blockbuster: it's all about raising your pulse and bringing your dreams to life.
5. Back To The Future (1985)
RottenTomatoes Score: 96% (8.7/10)
Box Office: $389-392 million
Why It's Awesome: Time travel films are a dime a dozen and so few of them have any sort of functioning internal logic, yet that's just one of the many reasons that, conversely, Robert Zemeckis' classic sci-fi adventure film has endured for three decades.
There's so much packed into this movie: the hilarious scenario of a young man getting to hang out with his own parents back in their high school days, the 50s style, Huey Lewis and the News, the DeLorean acting as a time machine, the outrageous time travel jokes (the Ronald Reagan gag is a killer), Christopher Lloyd's insane performance, and the fantastically charming work of Michael J. Fox as protagonist Marty McFly.
It's a wonderful feel-good film that's nevertheless extremely smart and prone to a few moments of edge that younger viewers will likely miss (and be shocked at when they revisit it a few years later), ultimately spawning two inferior but tremendously enjoyable sequels.
4. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
RottenTomatoes Score: 93% (8.4/10)
Box Office: $519.8 million
Why It's Awesome: Trust James Cameron to once again deliver a sequel that took the more modest thrills of the original movie and turned them up to 11. In this case, it was of course Cameron's own pet project, the unexpectedly successful The Terminator, and with this follow-up, he crafted one of the best movie sequels in history.
The plotting is razor-sharp, the dialogue punchy and witty, and the moments of comic relief both dark and perfectly-placed (as is less than can be said for the sequels that followed). Then there's the scintillating action, driven by some incredible visual effects which have aged insanely well over the years.
Performance-wise, everyone's on their A-game here: Arnold Schwarzenegger cements himself as one of cinema's all-time screen bada**es with his heroic turn here, while Edward Furlong is hilarious and believable as the young boy thrown into all the mayhem, and Linda Hamilton completely reinvents herself as a lean, hard-nosed, classic Cameron femme fatale.
As if all that wasn't enough, the villain, Robert Patrick's T-1000, is incredible, and the ending is unexpectedly emotional. With a thoughtful message about humanity, superlative effects and an overall perfect production, T2 sets an almost impossible standard for movie sequels.
3. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
RottenTomatoes Score: 94% (8.9/10)
Box Office: $538.4 million
Why It's Awesome: Despite grossing substantially less than the original Star Wars, Empire is a blueprint for how to make a sequel that surpasses what came before: it's darker, more intense, and heightens the emotional stakes of the characters to wildly unexpected levels.
Even though it explores more complex ideas than Star Wars, don't presume that Empire is any less of a spectacle: it's still every bit the wondrous, visually stunning sci-fi space opera that the original was, just with a ton more gravitas hitched to it.
It goes without saying that the "I am your father" twist is one of the most iconic scenes put to film, not merely a moment of shock tomfoolery but a fascinating thematic device which forces Luke to look inward at himself.
In short, if you're expecting any of the new Star Wars trilogy to top this one, you're probably going to have a bad time.
2. Jaws (1975)
RottenTomatoes Score: 97% (9.1/10)
Box Office: $470.7 million
Why It's Awesome: Not even four decades of time and some noticeably aged special effects can detract from the thrill of Steven Spielberg's cinematic definition of fear. Widely touted as "the original summer blockbuster", Jaws made an entire generation of cinemagoers terrified of the water, and remains one of the most viscerally effective, button-pushing thrillers ever made.
What's perhaps so genius about the film is that the title character doesn't even appear in the movie that much, yet Spielberg milks each of his appearances for everything it's worth, aided by some grotesque gore effects (which remain shockingly violent for a "family" film), and of course, John Williams' unforgettable score.
Of course, what really separates this from a shlocky exploitation film is the characterisation: Brody (Roy Scheider), Quint (Robert Shaw) and Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) are all fully-realised characters who are easily endeared to and cared for by the audience. This makes their final stand all the more perilous and engaging.
If you didn't jump out of your seat when Jaws rose out of the water (pictured above), you're lying.
1. The Dark Knight (2008)
RottenTomatoes Score: 94% (8.6/10)
Box Office: $1.005 billion
Why It's Awesome: After Christopher Nolan so successfully reinvented Batman as gritty and "realistic" in 2005's Batman Begins, he basically changed the dominant aesthetic of contemporary action films with his follow-up, The Dark Knight.
For one, no major comic book movie before had ever combined superhero theatrics with the grounded crime drama style of something like Heat or The Departed. As absurd as Batman's stand-off with The Joker was in actual fact, Nolan did a fantastic job selling its apparent plausibility from beginning to end.
The action is riveting, the drama absorbing, and all the technical considerations virtually without flaw. Even so, everyone knows what made The Dark Knight the best summer blockbuster in history: Heath in a terrifying, Oscar-winning turn as the Clown Prince of Crime. Never before had an actor immersed themselves so deeply in the sort of role that many actors would readily dismiss as a lazy paycheck part.
That Christian Bale's Batman essentially plays second fiddle to the villain is a testament to how spot-on the portrayal was, and that's without even discussing the other great work throughout from Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman.
This is as great as comic book movies or, indeed, action films or, yes, summer blockbusters ever get.
What are your favourite summer blockbusters of all time? Shout them out in the comments!
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