Best Summer Blockbuster Movie
Somewhere around the mid-1970s, Hollywood studios realized that the summer months were the perfect launching point for their most-expensive, highest-profile projects. With kids out of school, families needed something to do. The prestigious Oscar-bait timeframe was half a year away. And people welcomed an opportunity to get out of the sun and into a dark, air-conditioned room to watch grown men get eaten by dinosaurs whilst using the toilet, and countless cars exploding for no discernible reason. Billions of dollars have been made by summer blockbusters, and even a few awards have ben won by them. So for the first of our 2025 Summer Specials, we want to look back at those mega-grossing pictures and try to determine the best Summer Blockbuster Film of all time.
Movies discussed: Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Ghostbusters, Grease, Shrek, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, The Dark Knight, The Lion King, Twister, Barbie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, Independence Day, Iron Man, Back to the Future.
Join host Eric Rezsnyak and GPCD panelists Karissa Kloss, Kate Racculia, and Michael Schwarz as they discuss 16 of the most-loved, most-successful movies of all time.
Play along at home by finding the listener bracket here. Make a copy for yourself, fill it out, and see if your picks match up with ours!
For an extended version of this episode, featuring 20 more minutes of movie discussion, as well as the warm-up in which we discuss even more summer blockbusters that didn’t make the bracket, become a Patreon supporter of the podcast today.
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Round 1 Match-Ups:
Not a Patreon subscriber? Here’s a primer on how we came up with the bracket.
Match-Up 1: Jurassic Park (1) vs. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (4)
Match-Up 2: Ghostbusters (3) vs. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (2)
Match-Up 4: The Dark Knight (3) vs. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (2)
Match-Up 5: Twister (1) vs. The Lion King (4)
Match-Up 6: Raiders of the Lost Ark (3) vs. Barbie (2)
Match-Up 7: Jaws (1) vs. Independence Day (4)
Match-Up 8: Iron Man (3) vs. Back to the Future (2)
Want to play along at home?
Download the Listener Bracket and see if your picks match up with ours!
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Episode Credits
Host: Eric Rezsnyak
Panelists: Karissa Kloss, Kate Racculia, Michael Schwarz
Producer: Derek Mekita
Editor: Eric Rezsnyak
Theme Music: “Dance to My Tune” by Marc Torch
