The Megahit Movies
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Most popular movies are designed around three main characters: the protagonist, the love interest, and the antagonist, as well as a unique object that they are trying to possess. Since only one character can eventually obtain the unique object, this structure guarantees conflict throughout the story. The climax scene is a life-and-death struggle between the protagonist and the antagonist for the unique object.
A writer should try to imagine the movie poster that will be used to market the film to a global audience. Study the poster designs of the current popular movies. Within these images are the core elements of the story: protagonist, antagonist, love interest, and an image which defines the genre of the movie. A movie that hopes to become popular will need to have such a poster.
Given these core elements, we then go on to discuss the psychology of the audience. The writer must understand the importance of creating empathy in the audience for the protagonist and love interest, while simultaneously generating enmity (fear and hatred) for the antagonist. This is essential for creating mass-market popular Hollywood movies. The classic Hollywood Three-Act Structure is used to this effect. We explicate this structure in terms of the plotting of the story that will create an emotionally satisfying experience for the audience. The key to creating popular and commercially successful Hollywood movies is to learn how to elicit specific emotional reactions from the audience.
The writer should create an empathy scene for the protagonist and love interest and an enmity scene for the antagonist. The writer should also cast the three primary characters (protagonist, antagonist, and love interest) with currently popular Hollywood actors. This will make the characters easier to write and also will eventually help in marketing the finished screenplay to Hollywood producers.
We next focus on creating three-dimensional characters by analyzing character personality types, motivation, personal objectives, emotional decisions, character relationships, ethical values and codes of behavior, character arcs and transformations, and supporting characters. The screenwriter should write a description for the protagonist supporter, who should be humorous and likeable and the antagonist supporter, who should be vicious and hateful. They should also describe the motivation, personal objective, and transformation for each of the five primary characters of their story: protagonist, antagonist, love interest, protagonist supporter, and antagonist supporter. Hollywood recognizes the importance of supporting roles by giving Academy Awards each year to the Best Supporting Actor and Actress.
Now that we have created the basic elements of our story, a unique object that is desired by the protagonist and antagonist and the key supporting characters, we will then show how to make the story unpredictable. This is done by creating subgoals to the protagonist’s primary objective which conclude as plot twists. Plot twists result when the expected consequence of completing a subgoal does not happen once that subgoal is achieved. An example of this can be found in the Wizard of Oz. Dorothy believes that the Wizard will get her back home (her primary objective). Her first major subgoal is to get to the Emerald City to see the Wizard. She overcomes many obstacles to achieve this subgoal. When she meets the Wizard, he does not help her go home, but instead assigns her the task of getting him the broomstick of the Wicked Witch of the West. This is a plot twist. Examples of many other plot twists from popular Hollywood movies will be discussed in this book. Creating expectations in the audience with the intention of having these expectations not fulfilled is the key to creating surprise and unpredictability.
Essential to creating excitement is conflict that produces jeopardy for the protagonist and his supporters. These conflicts are generated by the obstacles and problems that the protagonist must solve in order to achieve the subgoals and primary objective. Jeopardy producing obstacles can be the result of self-conflicts, enemies, relatives, friends, lovers, physical objects, the natural world, and the supernatural world. We review many examples of each type of obstacle found in popular movies. The writer will also come to understand that in each scene of the script, there should be an obstacle or problem that the characters in the story must overcome. This ensures that there will be conflict and excitement in each scene.
We next discuss the difference between a plot and a story, events and actions, the inciting event, subplots, and different ways that a writer can organize a plot. At this stage, the writer will be prepared to design a Prelude, Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, and Resolution structure for their story. They should be able to write a plot outline that contains forty (40) major obstacles; one for each scene.
A story is different from a plot. While a plot is a series of events that constitute the movie, the story is the series of actions and decisions the protagonist makes in the movie. Story is the sphere in which human values, virtues, vices, and community ideals interact and come into the foreground of the movie. The screenwriter must choose virtues for their protagonist and vices for their antagonist. They should write scenes showing the protagonist exhibiting this virtue when confronting an obstacle and a scene showing the antagonist displaying a vice when dealing with a different obstacle or problem. An example of this is the way that Bruce Wayne and Jack Napier court Vickie Vale in Batman, or the way that Indiana Jones and the sadistic Nazi negotiate with Marion for the headpiece of the staff of Ra in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
We next discuss the design of scenes, concentrating on scene actions, point-of-attack, crisis, confrontation, climax, resolution, exposition scenes, transition scenes, opening scenes, protagonist introduction, antagonist introduction, climax scenes, and resolution scenes. The writer should create a 3x5 index card (40 cards) for each scene that includes the major obstacle (or problem), crisis, confrontation, climax, and the emotional reactions of the characters in the scene. These elements constitute the essential moments or beats of the scene. From these index cards the writer should create a detailed plot outline. A full length screenplay can have between 40 and 60 scenes, each between 3 to 2 minutes in length. We then discuss connecting scenes together into sequences. Each sequence should be designed to have a specific emotional effect on the audience. We will also analyze ways of entertaining the audience and conveying information during exposition scenes.
We will discuss how “Chase” sequences and “Ticking Clocks” sequences can generate suspense. These types of sequences are especially important in the third act of the story because they are used to drive the audience into an emotional frenzy before the final climax scene.
Since the key to creating a popular Hollywood movie is to create an emotionally satisfying experience for the audience, it is critical for a writer to understand how to create situations that will elicit specific emotions in the audience. We discuss the relationship of emotion to story design, the Cognitive Theory of Emotions, techniques to heighten the intensity of emotional reactions, and ways to elicit specific emotional reactions to events, actions, and objects. Emotions also form the subtext underlying powerful dialogue.
To entertain the audience is to make them laugh while vicariously experiencing situations of jeopardy. Eliciting emotions in the audience is very important when creating humorous scenes. We discuss the techniques used in creating humorous dialogue, humorous situations, and humorous characters.
Ultimately, the writer must be clear on the theme of the story. What is the movie really about? What does it have to say about the human condition? What will the members of the audience learn about life and human relationships? Does the story have universal appeal? Does the narration rely on mythic structures? How does the theme of this movie compare with the themes found in many of the megahit movies?
Included in the book is a scene-by-scene analysis of one of the most popular movies ever produced in Hollywood: The Wizard of Oz. Other recent megahit movies analyzed are: Chicago, Shrek, Shrek 2, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Monsters, Inc, Finding Nemo, Bruce Almighty, The Matrix Trilogy, Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
The Megahit Movies Ho
llywood Story Design Workshop™ Information about these workshops is included at the end of the book. They will be valuable to screenwriters who would like a class that will help them further develop their original stories into commercial scripts.
The Megahit Movies book is designed for screenwriters, directors, and producers who want to create commercially successful movies. We hope the reader finds this book to be a useful tool in achieving that objective.
POPULAR HOLLYWOOD MOVIES
The Megahit Movies
U.S. Domestic Box-Office Grosses
Worldwide Box-Office Grosses
WGA Screenwriting Awards
Film Critics Best Movie Awards
Sundance Film Festival
Academy Awards
The Megahit Movies Redux THE MEGAHIT MOVIES There are different ways to define what it means to be a “Popular Hollywood Movie.” Popularity can be defined in terms of financial success, measured by box-office receipts. Below is a list of movies with U.S. Domestic Box-Office Grosses over $250 million as reported on September 30, 2004 at www.BoxOfficeMojo.com:
U.S. Domestic Worldwide Titanic $600,788,188 $1,835,400,000
Star Wars 460,998,007 797,900,000
Shrek 2 439,823,837 876,600,000
ET: The Extra-Terrestrial 435,110,554 775,913,554
The Phantom Menace 431,088,301 925,600,000
Spider-Man 403,706,375 818,100,000
Return of the King 377,027,325 1,116,356,159
Spider-Man 2 373,068,126 775,000,000
Passion of the Christ 370,274,604 591,557,850
Jurassic Park 357,067,947 920,100,000
The Two Towers 341,786,758 918,800,000
Finding Nemo 339,714,978 389,000,000
Forrest Gump 329,694,499 679,400,000
Lion King 328,541,776 767,700,000
Harry Potter: Sorcerer’s Stone 317,575,550 968,600,000
Fellowship of the Rings 314,776,170 860,800,000
Attack of the Clones 310,676,740 644,300,000
Star Wars: Return of the Jedi 309,306,177 572,700,000
Independence Day 306,169,268 813,200,000
Pirates of the Caribbean 305,413,918 319,300,000
The Sixth Sense 293,506,292 672,800,800
The Empire Strikes Back 290,475,067 534,200,000
Home Alone 285,761,243 533,700,000
Matrix Reloaded 281,576,461 727,400,000
Shrek 267,665,011 481,900,000
Harry Potter: Chamber 261,988,482 827,000,000
The Grinch 260,044.825 340,400,000
Jaws 260,000,000 470,600,000
Monsters, Inc. 255,873,250 523,100,000
Batman 251,188,924 413,200,000
Men in Black 250,690,529 587,800,000
All the films in the above list have earned over a quarter of a billion dollars in the U.S. Domestic Market. These can be considered to be The Megahit Movies. They define popularity as measured by financial success and by the number of people who paid to watch these films. The mass audience is defined as all people who can purchase a ticket to see a movie. Below is a list of the films with over $500 Million in Worldwide Box-Office Grosses.
Titanic $1,835,400,000
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King 1,116,356,159
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 968,600,000
Star Wars: Phantom Menace 925,600,000
Jurassic Park 920,100,000
Shrek 2 876,600,000
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring 860,800,000
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 827,000,000
Spider-Man 818,100,000
Independence Day 813,200,000
Star Wars 797,900,000
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 786,694,525
ET: The Extra-Terrestrial 775,913,554
Spider-Man 2 775,000,000
The Lion King 767,700,000
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 740,000,000
Matrix Reloaded 727,400,000
Forrest Gump 679,400,000
The Sixth Sense 672,800,000
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones 644,300,000
Lost World: Jurassic Park 614,300,000
The Passion of the Christ 609,493,825
Men in Black 587,800,000
Return of the Jedi 572,700,000
Mission Impossible 2 565,400,000
Armageddon 554,600,000
The Empire Strikes Back 534,200,000
Home Alone 533,700,000
Monsters, Inc. 523,100,000
Ghost 517,600,000
Terminator 2: Judgement Day 516,800,000
Aladdin 501,900,000
A different way of measuring popularity is by the Academy Awards for Best Picture of the Year.
2003 The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King $376,958,965
2002 Chicago 170,684,505
2001 A Beautiful Mind 170,708,996
2000 Gladiator 187,670,866
1999 American Beauty 130,058,047
1998 Shakespeare in Love 100,317,794
1997 Titanic 600,788,188
1996 The English Patient 78,716,374
1995 Braveheart 75,545,647
1994 Forrest Gump 329,693,974
1993 Schindler’s List 96,067,179
1992 Unforgiven 101,157,447
1991 Silence of the Lambs 130,726,716
1990 Driving Miss Daisy 106,593, 296
The Academy Awards list defines popularity as expressed by the votes of members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Movies on both lists are Titanic and Forrest Gump, so the lists are not exclusive. Box-office success does not exclude winning the Oscar for Best Picture of the Year but neither does it guarantee winning an Oscar.
A third way of defining popularity is by looking at the films that have won the WGA Screenwriting Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adaptation. The list below for years 2003-1996 was obtained from the Writers Guild of America (www.wga.org).
2003 Lost in Translation (original) $ 44,566,004 American Splendor (adaptation) $ 6,003,587
2002 Bowling for Columbine (original) $ 21,363,913 The Hours (adaptation) $ 41,597,830
2001 Gosford Park (original) $ 41,300,105 A Beautiful Mind (adaptation) $170,708,996
2000 You Can Count on Me (original) $ 9,180,275 Traffic (adaptation) $124,107,476 1999 American Beauty (original) $130,058,047 Election (adaptation) $ 14,943,582
1998 Shakespeare in Love (original) $100,317,794 Out of Sight (adaptation) $ 37,562,568
1997 As Good As It Gets (original) $147,666,088 L.A. Confidential (adaptation) $ 64,604,977
1996 Fargo (original) $ 24,567,751 Slingblade (adaptation) $ 24,475,416 Four films, A Beautiful Mind, American Beauty, Shakespeare in Love, and Braveheart are on the WGA list and the Academy list, but none are on The Megahit Movies list. Also, not all the films on the WGA list are on the Academy list. Different people voted for their favorite films, and they used different criteria and standards for their selections.
None of the screenplays listed above have been acclaimed by all three groups. The point of these examples is that there is no single criterion for a popular, good, or a successful film. Films that are popular with one group of voters are not popular with another. Different audiences like different kinds of movies.
This can further be exemplified by looking at the different selections for “Best Picture of the Year for 2002” chosen by Film Critics in the January 10-12, 2003 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine:
“Y Tu Mama Tambien” : “Catch Me if you Can” : “Far From Heaven” : “Y Tu Mama Tambien” : “Gangs of New York” : “Time Out” : “Talk to Her” : “Adaptation” : “Gangs of New York” : “Bloody Sunday” (tie) : “Spirited Away” (tie) : David Ansen, Newsweek
Jonathan Foreman, New York Post Owen Gleiberman, EW
Andrew Johnston, US Weekly
Leonard Maltin, Entertainment Tonight Peter Rainer, New York Magazine Richard Schickel, Time
Bob Strauss, Los Ange
les Daily News Peter Travis, Rolling Stone
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Time Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Time Film Critics Societies voted to select the following films for the “Best Picture of the Year for 2002”:
“The Pianist” : Boston Society of Film Critics “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”: Las Vegas Film Critics “About Schmidt”
“The Hours”
”Far From Heaven”
”Far From Heaven”
“Adaptation”
: Los Angeles Film Critics : National Board of Review : New York Film Critics Circle : San Diego Film Critics Society : Toronto Film Critics
2003 SUNDANCE Theatrical Box Office Chart (Filmmaker Magazine Winter 2004) FILM TITLE BUDGET (in millions)
All The Real Girls 2.5
American Splendor 2.5
Buffalo Soldiers 15.0
Ca 1.0
Capturing Friedmans NA
City of Ghosts
Confidence
The Cooler
Die Mommie Die 1.0
Dopamine .75
Dysfunktional Family 3.0
Girls will be Girls NA
An Injury to One NA
Laurel Canyon 7.0
Levity 7.5
Masked & Anonymous 7.0
Northfork 1.9
Owning Mahowny 10.0
Party Monster 2.0
People I Know 20.0
Pieces of April .30
Raising Victor Vargas 1.0
SPUN 3.5
The Station Agent .70
The Shape of Things 4.0
The Singing Detective 7.0
Thirteen 1.8 17.5 15 3.8 DISTRIBUTOR BOX OFFICE (in millions) Sony Classics .550 HBO Films/Fine Line 6.10 Miramax .355 IFC Films 1.70 Magnolia Pictures 3.10 United Artists .358 Lions Gate 12.2 Lions Gate .675 Sundance Film Series .312 Sundance Film Series .070 Miramax 2.20 IFC Films .147 First Run Features .753 Sony Classics 3.60 Sony Classics .210 Sony Classics .534 Paramount Classics 1.40 Sony Classics 1.00 Strand Releasing .718 Miramax .127 MGM & United Artists 2.20 Samuel Goldwyn 2.10 NewMarket .412 Miramax Films 3.90 Focus Features .736 Paramount Classics .322 Fox Searchlight 4.60