Some of you will already be aware of, and may have already watched, the brilliant Netflix documentary series The Toys That Made Us. Available on the streaming platform since December 2017, The Toys That Made Us explores the background and history of some of the most popular toy lines ever created, and it’s absolutely brilliant.
The show initially gave us some amazing insights into the origins of the Star Wars toys, before delving into Barbie, He-Man, G.I. Joe, Lego, Star Trek, and even Hello Kitty.
Thankfully, the series was a massive success, with many viewers feeding back to Netflix how much they loved it. And those fans will be delighted to hear that Netflix have just announced a spin-off show that will turn the focus onto something just as amazing: The Movies That Made Us.
As reported by Den of Geek, The Movies That Made Us will explore the stories behind the production of classic movies, particularly focussing on the impact they had on popular culture.
And we’re very pleased to report that we already know which four movies the show will be focussing on in the first series, and we’d love to share that information with you right now!
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Dirty Dancing
The first movie to sell a million copies on VHS, and named by Sky Movies as ‘the No.1 women’s most-watched film’, Dirty Dancing will of course be one of the four movies that the show will focus on in its first series.
The Movies That Made Us creator Brian Volk-Weiss wants everyone to learn about the Parrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey classic, and hopes that “[even if] you’re not a Dirty Dancing fan, but if you like Die Hard and you like Ghostbusters, you’ll give Dirty Dancing a chance.”
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Die Hard
Die Hard is one of the most important movies ever made, almost creating an entire genre featuring one hero fighting against overwhelming odds, so of course the show had to devote an episode to the action classic.
Sadly there will be no input from Bruce Willis however, with Volk-Weiss reflecting that: “in the toy world, you largely had all these people who changed culture, who kind of no-one cared about, so they were dying to talk to us. Bruce Willis has been talking about Die Hard for 30 years. So, we didn’t get Bruce Willis. We tried, we didn’t get him.”
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Home Alone
Home Alone may take us into the 1990s, but it’s still a massively important movie for many of us Eighties Kids, and as Christmas draws closer (seriously, it’s four months away!) it’s one of the flicks that most gets us in the mood for the festive season. And Brian Volk-Weiss agrees that when it comes to classic comedies, there was only one movie they could choose.
“For Home Alone, we wanted a comedy,” Volk-Weiss reflects. “That was one thing. We really wanted to do a holiday movie. This show is coming out right around Thanksgiving and we really wanted a holiday vibe. Die Hard obviously is also, to a certain extent, a holiday film.”
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Ghostbusters
There can’t be a single Eighties Kid growing up in the western world who hasn’t seen the original 1984 version of Ghostbusters, so it’s no shock to us that The Movies That Made Us is also devoting an episode to Dan Akroyd and Ivan Reitman’s scary classic.
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Despite not being successful in getting Bruce Willis to talk about Die Hard, the show has been successful in speaking to Akroyd and Reitman about Ghostbusters (although sadly not Bill Murray), and we can’t wait to hear what they have to say!
The Movies That Made Us Will be available on Netflix UK this Autumn. Will you be watching it? And what movies do you think they should include in future series? Do let us know by posting a comment.