Blockbuster. How the Jaws and Jedi generation turned Hollywood into a boom-town

The unmistakable opening bars of John Williams' score for JAWS heralded not just the arrival of a man-eating shark, but the appearance of a new type of movie. Fast, visceral, and devouring all in its path, the summer blockbuster had arrived. But having brought audiences back to theatres in record numbers, the beast then took on a life of its own, and by the 1990s had run completely out of control. Are the studios even in the movie business any more? Or are they just in the blockbuster business? Written with a passion of a true movie fan, and the wit of one of our best critics, Tom Shone's book is the first to try to make sense of this global phenomenon. He has interviewed all the key participants -- from directors like Spielberg and Lucas to the executives who greenlight these behemoths, down to the effects boffins who detonated the Death Star and blew up the White House -- and produced what is easily the most incisive and entertaining book about film since Peter Biskind's EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS.