12. Jaws (1975)
The prototypical Hollywood blockbuster, Jaws was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world in the summer of 1975 at over 450 screens, and a month after its release it was playing in double that amount. Backed by an unprecedented campaign of heavy television advertising, the movie would go on to become the highest-grossing movie in history with over $470m worldwide (which works out at nearly $2 billion when adjusted for inflation). Just like that, the 'event movie' was born. However, many were predicting Jaws to be an unmitigated disaster before it went on to become the biggest movie of all time. Relatively inexperienced director Steven Spielberg went an incredible 100 days over schedule, which saw the budget come in at $9m, over double the initial cost of the project. The tortured production also suffered innumerable problems with their mechanical star Bruce, and the human actors suffered from seasickness and an increasing dislike of each other. Ultimately these problems would only enhance the final product and as we all know, the result is one of the greatest movies ever made. Featuring both one of the most iconic themes and posters in movie history, the unique marketing blitz also saw Jaws released with a wide array of tie-in merchandise and inadvertently persuaded a generation of moviegoers to stay out of the water. The movie also popularised the wide release system that is now standard practice for studio blockbusters and established the summer as the best time to release these high-concept pictures. The era of blockbuster cinema had arrived.