Sequels to old blockbusters, biographical dramas about musical stars of the 20th centurye Century, autobiographical stories that take us back in time… In order to attract older audiences to the theater, the film industry regularly plays the nostalgia card.
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Just take a look at the 20 highest-grossing films of 2022 to see how much nostalgia can pay off at the box office. It includes, among other things, another sequel to the successful Jurassic Park film saga and a musical drama about the life of Elvis Presley. But there’s no better example to illustrate the appeal of nostalgia in cinema than the action film Top Gun: Maverick, a sequel to the 1986 classic, which hit the worldwide box office last summer.
“It was a huge hit,” notes Quebec producer Christian Larouche (Confessions, Goodbye Happiness). It’s the kind of movie that we always want to see when they’re successful. The same goes for Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible, which still works very well after all these years. Watching this kind of entertainment is like slipping back into our good old slippers.”
musical stars
Biographical dramas that tell the lives of musical stars from the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s have also been popular in cinemas for a number of years. We saw it with Elvis this summer, but also recently with Bohemian Rhapsody (about Freddie Mercury) and Rocketman (about Elton John).
Christian Larouche knows that this type of film appeals to a wide audience. He self-produced a film about the life of rocker Gerry Boulet (Gerry) in 2011 and is preparing another about that of diva Diane Dufresne.
“Baby boomers and people of a certain age love to see the artists who made them swing when they were young on the big screen,” he says. But these films are also popular with the youngest, because they allow them to discover these icons of the 1970s or 1980s.When we created Gerry, we felt a great interest among young people in the work of Gerry and Offenbach discover. The film about Diane Dufresne will certainly do the same with her music.
Top Gun: Maverick
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Hollywood often plays on nostalgia by producing sequels or remakes of old blockbusters. In the case of Top Gun: Maverick, this bet turned out to be particularly profitable. Launched last May, this sequel to the 1986 cult film, starring Tom Cruise reprising his famous role as the intrepid pilot Maverick, dominated the box office all summer, grossing nearly $1.5 billion worldwide.
elvis
Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
The immense popularity of biographical dramas inspired by the lives of music stars also largely explains this attraction to nostalgia. We had a good example of this this year with the release of the musical film Elvis, which grossed more than $151 million at the worldwide box office. Similar films about Freddie Mercury (Bohemian Rhapsody), Elton John (Rocketman) and Mötley Crüe (The Dirt) have also hit theaters in recent years, while others about Madonna and Prince are in the works.
1987
Photo courtesy of Sevilla Films
Filmmaker Ricardo Trogi has never hidden it: the success of his series of autobiographical films 1981, 1987 and 1991 is largely due to this nostalgic feeling that grips viewers over 40 as they immerse themselves in the atmosphere of the 1980s The second installment of the series, 1987 Inspired by the summer of her 17 years, , plays that streak particularly well by multiplying the looks, accessories and music of the 1980s.
the saga Halloween
Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures
Horror film fans can also fall for the charms of the genre’s old classics, as evidenced by the popularity of the Halloween saga, which has released 13 films over a span of more than 40 years. The latest episodes of the series have a special focus on nostalgia by giving prominence to the heroine of the original 1978 film, played by Jamie Lee Curtis.
cine gift
What do The War of the Hoods, The 12 Labors of Asterix and Bach and Bottine have in common? These classics are key elements of the programming of Ciné-Cadeau, this marathon of family films that airs on the Télé-Québec airwaves during the holiday season and that celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Ciné-Cadeau has been known to appeal to both adult nostalgics for their youth and their own children.
The Fabelmans
Photo courtesy Storyteller Distribution Co
Some great filmmakers have also been seduced by nostalgia for the past recently. After Alfonso Cuaron, who narrated a chapter of his childhood in Mexico City in the drama Roma (winner of three Oscars, including Best Director 2019), Steven Spielberg offers for his part an autobiographical film, Les Fabelman, in which he can be seen back on his youth and his discovery of cinema. The feature film, which Spielberg describes as his most personal work, has just been released.