Was 30 Years Ago The Greatest Weekend In Movie History?

Those lucky sods could choose between Ghostbusters, Temple of Doom, Gremlins, Karate Kid, Police Academy and more. 2014 just can't compete with that.

30 years ago this past weekend (20-22 June) may just have been the greatest time to be a moviegoer in history - with a selection of some of the 1980s best films to choose from in multiplexes including Ghostbusters and Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom. The astonishing collection of films released in late May and June meant that for cinephiles this was a time to rejoice. Alongside those two classic movies were Gremlins, The Natural, The Karate Kid, Police Academy and Star Trek III: The Search For Spock. Most have become favourites over time, with Ghostbusters in particular recognised as one of the best crowd-pleasing films ever. If ghosts weren't your bag and you fancied a bit of action and adventure you could join Indy and Short Round as they tried to escape the clutches of a Thugee cult, or struggle to avoid turning a Mogwai into Gremlin if you wanted laughs with your horror. Although The Temple of Doom is often thought of as the inferior of the three original Indiana Jones movies, it is still loved for its iconic moments €“ such as Indy being placed in a trance. The Karate Kid and the character of Mr Miyagi are also still much loved, despite an ill-judged remake of the 80s classic.
Although 1984 was clearly utterly brilliant, it€™s not unknown for other years to provide a big batch of great releases. Most recently the success of The Avengers meant that in summer 2012 you could choose between Thor, Tony Stark, The Hulk and company and Christopher Nolan€™s concluding part in his Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises and Ridley Scott€™s Prometheus. It€™s rather embarrassing considering last week€™s US box-office top ten is topped by two sequels of varying quality€“ Think Like A Man Too and 22 Jump Street, with studios not seeming to want to risk putting movies up against the World Cup and anticipation building ahead of Marvel€™s Guardians of the Galaxy€™s release. What do you think was the best weekend for movies ever? Or is it yet to come?
Contributor

Mark Worgan hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.