Hello, I would need an audio version of this text to help my French 9th grade students listen and understand a little bit more about Hollywood. It is one part of a five-part lesson, so if you feel courageous... Please speak naturally and do enunciate as my students are lower-intermediate English learners... Thank you so much.
PART 3: Famous Hollywood Movies
Hollywood is considered to be the oldest film industry. It is also the birthplace of various genres of cinema—among them comedy, drama, action, musical, romance, horror, science fiction, and the war epic—and has set the example for other national film industries.
A very successful movie is called a “blockbuster”. The movie Gone with the Wind—first released in 1939— set in the American South in the context of the American Civil War, is generally considered to be the most successful film of all times. Guinness World Records in 2014 estimated its global revenue at $3.4 billion. Guinness World records had Avatar, released in 2009 in second place with $3 billion, immediately followed by Titanic, released in 1997.
During the 20th century several trends emerged. During the silent era, films with about war were the most popular with audiences. With the advent of sound in 1927, the musical became the most popular type of film with audiences.
Throughout the 1950s began a trend of very expensive historical dramas set during Ancient Rome or biblical times such as Spartacus for example.
Then came a strong interest in the superhero genre, with many blockbusters in the Marvel comic books universe. The 1980s have been marked by very successful sagas such as Star Wars directed by George Lucas or Indiana Jones by Steven Spielberg.
*Spartacus, for example.