October 28–30, 2024 | Indiana University Cinema | Bloomington, IN
Blockbuster films have been instrumental to the evolution of the art and economics of the film industry for decades. Yet, while blockbusters are on the precipice of change, it’s clear they won’t be abandoned by global film industries anytime soon. As we approach the next phase of the blockbuster, IU Cinema’s Blockbuster Futures conference is interested and invested in thinking through the past and present of global blockbusters, broadly constructed, to imagine blockbuster futures across medium, industries, geographies, time, business models, genres, forms, and aesthetics. All conference panels and keynotes take place at IU Cinema, are free, and are open to the public.
Blockbuster Futures is presented in partnership with The Media School at IU Bloomington and is funded in part by a grant from the IU Bloomington Public Arts & Humanities project.
For the Family Mega Marathon: Fast, Furious, Full-Throttle
What better way to kick off our Blockbuster Futures conference than to highlight the global phenomenon that is the Fast & Furious Saga?! We’ll be screening five Fast films each day, starting off day one with the epic 2001 original and concluding on day two with the most recent theatrical release from 2023.
Pop into IU Cinema over the weekend for your favorite installment of Toretto and team or stick around each day from noon to midnight(-ish) for the entire two-day marathon! Each marathon day includes five films for $20, with day one and day two tickets sold separately.
And if you don’t believe it’s gonna be a ridiculously good time, just listen to this guy: “I watch those movies all the time, I love them… you don’t need to watch them all in one sitting, it’s only the last few where a very specific arc of mythologies develop; I would start with Tokyo Drift” — Christopher Nolan (Yes, that Christopher Nolan!)
11:00am-12:30pm: Industrial Multiverses: The Blockbuster Franchise Chair: Claire E. Hoenecke, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Claire E. Hoenecke(University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee): “The Myth of the Cinematic Universe: A Postmortem of The Mummy (2017)” James Fleury (Washington University in St. Louis): “’Did You Miss Us?’: Ghostbusters: Afterlife and the Franchise Functions of Legacyquels” Mike Goemaat(University of Southern California): “The Myths of Max: Mythology as Franchise in the Mad Max Films” Ben Riggs(Northwestern University): “Cinematic Universes and Televisual ‘Planets’: Charting TV’s Blockbuster Nature Across Contemporary Natural History Programs”
12:30pm-2:00pm: Lunch
2:10pm-3:25pm: Permutations of Intellectual Property Chair: William Helmke, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign J.D Connor(University of Southern California): “The Time of Monsters” Kimberly Owczarski (Texas Christian University): “‘We Are One’: Hasbro, eOne, and the Failure of the In-House Franchise Strategy” William Helmke(University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign): “The Promise and Peril of Cinematic Video Game Adaptations”
3:25pm-3:45pm: Coffee Break
3:45pm-5:00pm: Theaters, Streaming, and Beyond: Distribution and Marketing In and Against the Blockbuster Model Chair: Caleb Allison, Indiana University Bradley Schauer(University of Arizona): “Civil War and the Politics of the Independent Blockbuster” Caleb Allison(Indiana University): “Upscaling Hollywood: Artificial Intelligence and the Remastering of the Blockbuster's Material History on Home Video” Gary Edgerton (Butler University): “Blockbusters in the Era of Radical Convergence”
9:30am-10:30am: Tour of the Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive (optional)
10:45am-12:00pm: The Limit(lessness) of Representation in Blockbuster Films Chair: Sterling De Sutter Summerville, Independent Scholar Kathryn Burrell (University of Massachusetts): “‘I’m Not a Girl,’ ‘I’m Just Ken:” Gender, Agency, and Commodity in Barbie and Crossroads.” Mohammed Shakibnia (University of Oregon): “Racial Perceptions of Black Characters in Star Wars Media” Sterling De Sutter Summerville(Independent Scholar): “Marvel Blockbusters and The Black Villain Problem: An Analysis of Race, Ethnicity and Gender”
12:00pm-12:15pm: Coffee Break
12:20pm-1:20pm: Into the “Discourse”: Blockbusters, Awards, and Film Criticism Chair: Alex Brannan, Indiana University Monica Sandler (Ball State University): “The Award Season, Indie Blockbusters, and the Future of Prestige Entertainment” Alex Brannan (Indiana University): “Finding the ‘Common’ in the ‘Common Sense’ Conception of American Blockbuster Cinema: Avengers: Endgame, Barbie, and the ‘Blockbuster’ Imaginary in Online User Reviews”
1:25pm-3:00pm: Lunch
3:15pm-5:00pm: Aesthetics and Spectacle Chair: Cooper Long, University of Chicago Kat Trout-Baron(University of Iowa): “I Want to Believe: Stars, Stunts, and the Authenticity of the Spectacle” Cooper Long (University of Chicago): “The Y2-Chase and the Origins of the Blockbuster CGI Backlash” Christina Petersen(Eckerd College): “The Revert Blockbuster: Metamodernist Aesthetics at the 21st Century Box Office"
10:00am-11:00pm: Tour of the Black Film Center & Archive (optional)
11:15pm-12:15pm: Familial Thematics Chair: Rachel Schaff, Mercer University Rachel Schaff (Mercer University) and Koel Banerjee (Carnegie Mellon University): “Familial Registers: New Tendencies in the Superhero Genre” Keon Clardy (Indiana University): “The Colonial and Sexual Trauma Within Alien”
12:30pm-2:00pm: Lunch
2:15pm-3:45pm: Blockbusters as Global Genre and Global Industry Chair: Dylan Caskie, Syracuse University Zachariah Qureshi(University of Texas at Dallas): “RRR: Shifting Transnationality in Indian Action Cinema” Dhyan Singh(Govt. College Dharamshala): “Blockbusters and Caste Identity: A Case Study of the Movie Kaala” Mehdi Achouche (Sorbonne Paris Nord University): “The Three Musketeers and the Regeneration of the Cloak-and-Dagger Genre and Made-in-France Blockbusters” Dylan Caskie (Syracuse University): “Roots Tourists: Multiculturalism, Globalization, and American Synecdoche in the Hollywood Blockbuster”
