Q 01/05

The word "blockbuster" entered the American press in the early 1940s. What did it originally describe?

A) WWII aerial bombs

B) Broadway ticket queues

C) Blocks of radio airtime

D) Wrestling promotions

Answer · why

A) WWII aerial bombs

The name referred to munitions that could level a whole city block, and by 1943 studio ads were borrowing it for action pictures.

Q 02/05

The first known use of "block-buster" to describe a film came in 1943 ads for which RKO war picture?

A) Air Force

B) Bombardier

C) Destination Tokyo

D) Flying Tigers

Answer · why

B) Bombardier

Variety and Motion Picture Herald called it "the block-buster of all action-thrill-service shows," three decades before Jaws made the word a genre.

Q 03/05

Which 1973 George Lucas hit is credited with helping birth the summer blockbuster before Jaws?

A) The Last Picture Show

B) Paper Moon

C) American Graffiti

D) The Way We Were

Answer · why

C) American Graffiti

Made for $777,000, it became one of the most profitable films of all time and gave Lucas the leverage to make his space saga.

Q 04/05

Jaws was adapted from a 1974 bestselling novel by which author?

A) Michael Crichton

B) Robin Cook

C) Stephen King

D) Peter Benchley

Answer · why

D) Peter Benchley

The author shares screenplay credit with Carl Gottlieb and has a cameo in the film as a TV reporter on the beach.

Q 05/05

Jaws was shot mostly on location on which island, standing in for the fictional Amity?

A) Martha's Vineyard

B) Nantucket

C) Block Island

D) Long Island

Answer · why

A) Martha's Vineyard

The shoot ran from May to October 1974, far longer than planned, as the ocean and the props kept fighting back.