Anchorhead said:

Once studios realized they could create films without sets, locations, and often times without a need for more than a few cast members (yes, George - I'm speaking of the prequels also), they were all over it. Once they realized they could make millions in revenue off of these two-hour advertisements for the software that created them - they sold their souls.

I can pinpoint 2 movies to the change in the summer blockbuster. The first was Jurassic Park, because it open the door to CGI. Now I love Jurassic Park, because it does have a cool story, essentially a moral tale that you shouldn't fuck with nature, and humans always get greedy in the end. After JP, EVERY director started looking into this CGI as a tool.

The final nail in the summer blockbuster was Independence Day. The movies was a smash hit, was the #1 movie all summer, audiences flocked to it. It is the stupidest, souless, CGI fest I have ever seen. The characters are lame, and what sold people was the image of the White House blowing up.

Before CGI, the director HAD to have cool characters, had to have a cool story, had to have drama, humor, because the effects could not be sold to the 'idiot' crowd that populates the summer movie today.

Look at the Top Summer Movies from the '80s:

1981- Raiders of the Lost Ark

1982- ET

1983- Return of the Jedi

1984- Ghostbusters

1985- Back to the Future

1986- Aliens

Can anyone put Transformers, GI Joe, or Terminator Salvation up against them? Raiders had an iconic character in Indiana Jones, ET's ending has more soul then any summer blockbuster today. Back to the Future had a cool story of someone going back in time and his mom falls in love with him! Ghostbusters even had memorable characters that are beloved today. None of the summer movies today will stand the test of time, because they are all about CGI, action, CGI, explosions, and CGI. And sadly that is why I have seen one summer movie in the past 4 summers: The Dark Knight.