The decade of the 1980s in Western cinema saw the return of studio-driven pictures, coming from the filmmaker-driven New Hollywood era of the 1970s. The period was when the "high concept" picture was established by producer Don Simpson, where films were expected to be easily marketable and understandable. Therefore, they had short cinematic plots that could be summarized in one or two sentences. Since its implementation, this method has become the most popular formula for modern Hollywood blockbusters. At the same time in Eastern cinema, the Hong Kong film industry entered a boom period that significantly elevated its prominence in the international market.

Trends

The cinema of the 1980s covered many subgenres, with hybrids crossing between multiple genres. The course strengthened towards creating ever-larger megahit films, which earned more in their opening weeks than most previous movies due in part to scheduling releases when there were less competition for audience interest.

Content

The decade saw an increased amount of nudity in film, as well as the increasing emphasis in the American industry on film franchises; especially in the science fiction, horror, and action genres. Much of the reliance on these effects-driven movies was due in part to the Star Wars films at the advent of this decade and the new cinematic visuals they helped to pioneer. With the release of 1984's Red Dawn, the PG-13 rating was introduced in the U.S. to accommodate films that straddled the line between PG and R. Which was mainly due to the controversies surrounding the violence of the PG films Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and Gremlins from earlier that same year. Some have considered the 1980s in retrospect as one of the weaker decades for American cinema in terms of the qualities of the films released. Quentin Tarantino (director of Pulp Fiction) has voiced his own view that the 1980s was one of the worst eras for American films. Film critic Kent Jones also shares this opinion. However, film theorist David Bordwell countered this notion, saying that the "megapicture mentality" was already existent in the 1970s, which is evident in the ten highest-grossing films of that decade, as well as with how many of the filmmakers part of New Hollywood were still able to direct many great pictures in the 1980s (Martin Scorsese, Brian de Palma, John Carpenter, etc.).

Highest-grossing films

In the list, where revenues are equal numbers, the newer films are listed lower, due to inflation making the dollar-amount lower compared to earlier years.

Lists of films

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