Why Jaws and Barbie were such blockbusters

Why Jaws and Barbie were such blockbusters

She’s Barbie. He’s just Jaws.

Summer 2023 was the summer of Barbie.

Warner Bros.

Barbie, towering over our lives in 2023.

Everywhere you looked there was marketing — posters, ads, trailers. There were Barbie cafés, Barbie Progressive commercials, everyone was wearing pink! It was a delightful wave of cinematic energy.

Warner Bros.

Warner Bros.

Burger King

Barbie Burger.

And it was also completely overwhelming. At times it felt inescapable.

Barbie’s marketing felt different. And in some ways it was — but it owes a lot to the blockbusters that came before.

Universal

Jaws Poster.

Jaws is considered to be the first summer blockbuster for a lot of reasons — but most importantly (and most symmetrically with Barbie) because of its marketing. It was the first time that a studio flooded the market with advertising. In the summer of 1975, Jaws was inescapable.

Getty Images

Just look at the line! How could you miss the movie event of the summer?

Since then, studios have tried to replicate that strategy pretty much every year.

But Barbie was different — because, unlike most blockbusters, Barbie was unabashedly feminine, fun, and pink. If you’d like to learn about how Barbie stole the summer, check out the latest Vox video.

You can find this video and the entire library of Vox’s videos on YouTube.