Film & Television vocabulary · Distribution, Festivals and Awards
Blockbuster
Meaning in film & television, with examples
/ˈblɒkbʌstə/nounCore term
In film & television, blockbuster means: A very popular film that earns a lot of money, or a big-budget film made and marketed to become one.
In Turkish: gişe rekortmeni, büyük bütçeli film, blockbuster
How it is used
Common phrases: summer blockbuster, Hollywood blockbuster, a blockbuster franchise. Studios plan their year around tentpole films, the big releases that support the rest. Jaws (1975) is often described as the first summer blockbuster.
Example sentences
Small films struggle to find screens when a big blockbuster opens.
It's a blockbuster with a real heart, not just explosions.
Common collocations
summer blockbuster
Hollywood blockbuster
big-budget blockbuster
blockbuster hit
Related terms
box officeThe money a film earns from cinema ticket sales, or its commercial success measured that way. Originally the place in a theatre where tickets are sold.
releaseTo make a film or series available to the public in cinemas, on TV or on streaming platforms. As a noun, a release is a film being shown or the act of showing it.
distributorA company that buys the rights to show a film in a country or region and handles its release, marketing and delivery to cinemas or platforms.
visual effectsImages that are created or changed digitally after filming, such as adding crowds, removing objects, building cities or creating creatures.
