When the summer movie season kicks off, Bing rolls out its Summer Blockbuster quiz, a fan favourite judging by how many people hunt for it. The questions circle film history's biggest hits, and the origin story of the word 'blockbuster' itself is practically guaranteed to appear.
Explore more: Entertainment Quiz Answers Today Seasonal Quizzes
Where 'blockbuster' came from
Jaws (1975), directed by Steven Spielberg, is widely credited as the first modern summer blockbuster, its runaway success created the summer-event-movie template. Star Wars (1977) cemented it. The word itself predates cinema, originally describing WWII bombs, before attaching to hits so big that queues stretched around the block.
Records the quiz loves
Expect questions about the highest-grossing films, Avatar and Avengers: Endgame have traded the crown, top franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and director trivia around Spielberg, Cameron and Nolan. Because box-office rankings shift, verify any 'highest-grossing' question with a quick search rather than trusting memory.
Question patterns
Typical asks: which film launched the summer blockbuster era (Jaws), which 1977 space saga broke records (Star Wars), which shark, dinosaur or superhero belongs to which franchise, and release-year questions where the options sit a year or two apart.
Answering fast
Film facts are exhaustively documented, so search the title plus the exact detail, year, director, gross, and a film database settles it. If the day's image shows a cinema or a famous scene setup, the caption points to the theme.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the first summer blockbuster?
Jaws (1975), directed by Steven Spielberg, is widely credited with creating the summer blockbuster era, with Star Wars (1977) cementing it.
Where does the word 'blockbuster' come from?
It originally described massive WWII bombs and later attached to hit films so popular that ticket queues wrapped around the block.
When does the Summer Blockbuster quiz appear?
Around the start of the summer movie season, typically alongside film-themed Bing homepage images in May-July.