When you think of a genre changing movie, you think of a movie that defined a generation, changed the way movies are filmed, written or edited, or it revolutionized the entire movie industry. On that note, here are 5 of the best.
5. Psycho, 1960
The movie that made critics cringe when it first released, "Psycho broke the rules on how a horror movie display violence and nudity in movies. This was 1960, so seeing a naked girl in the shower getting brutally murdered was not only horrifying, but unheard of in cinema. Psycho broke ground for the Horror genre, and it still holds up despite the cheap effects (chocolate syrup for blood?).
4. Jurassic Park, 1993
In my opinion, Jurassic Park was the first great movie that utilized CGI animation. I mean, how weird would an animatronic dinosaur look in Jurassic Park? Take a movie like Labyrinth for example. If you flipped it around and made the puppets in a computer, the movie would be very different. So, Spielberg paved the way for great CGI directors like James Cameron (Titanic, Avatar) and yes, Michael Bay (Pearl Harbor, Transformers)
3. Toy Story (1995)
It's 1995. "The Lion King" just came out, and Disney is on a roll. Four years prior, Disney made the risky purchase of Pixar from Apple, and they still didn't have a movie to show it's worth. However, when Toy Story dropped, the animation industry was changed forever. Soon, the traditional animation style was left to TV, while big budget films (LEGO Movie, Frozen, Big Hero 6, etc.) would use CGI from here on out. Toy Story and Pixar led an animation revolution, and that's why Toy Story is a industry changer.
2. The Jazz Singer (1928)
Yes, the blackface is terrible, but for 1928 it was a common thing. It doesn't take away from how important the Jazz Singer is to any movie buff. It was the first movie with sound (which was a HUGE gamble) and it changed everything. It made Charlie Chaplin obsolete, and even Warner Bros. founder Harry Warner wrongly said "Who the Hell want to hear the actors talk?".
1. Metropolis (1929)
Why didn't I put "Jaws" at number one? Well, "Jaws" was the first blockbuster movie, but it didn't COMPLETELY change the movie industry, it just added more money into it. "Metropolis", however, was the last great silent ilm, and it made damn sure that it would be a classic. For 1927, it had amazing special effects, and it was incredibly ahead of its time. It had a great plot, fantastic settings, and a beautiful use of practical effects. All in all, "Metropolis" not only created the science fiction movie genre, it also brought fantastic design to the movie industry, changing it forever.