A Summer Blockbuster Movie Quiz

As regular readers of this blog probably already know, Beth of the lovely voice laid down a challenge for me at the first of the year. The challenge was simply this: I must create and post one pop culture quiz a month in A Shroud of Thoughts. The quizzes can have a single theme or simply be a collection of random things. At the end of 2008, the reader who has accumulated the most points throughout the year will win a pop culture related prize. For those of you curious about the prize, I decided that it will be a pop culture related key chain of the winner's choice, to cost no more than $5.00 (minus sales tax). The price limit is for the simple fact that I can't afford platinum plated key chains... I'll provide the answers around the end of the month.

Since this is Memorial Day weekend and Memorial Day was once the traditional beginning of the summer movie season (now I think it is more like the first weekend of May), I thought I would devote this quiz to summer movie blockbusters.

1. What summer blockbuster now regarded as a classic was released on August 25, 1939?

2. The Sea Hawk, released on July 1, 1940, starred Errol Flynn as Captain Geoffrey Thorpe. What was the name of his ship?

3. Released on June 30, 1948 in the United Kingdom and July 30, 1951 in the United States, what was the title of this David Lean adaptation of a Charles Dickens novel?

4. What classic film starring Steve McQueen, released on July 4, 1963, centred on a group of Allied prisoners of war escaping from a Nazi PoW camp?

5. Jaws, released June 20, 1975, was based on a novel by what author?

6. In Star Wars, now known as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, what actor did George Lucas consider for the role of Obi Wan Kenobi before Alec Guiness?

7. What was the original name of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

8. Twister helped cement what now established Hollywood tradition?

9. Before Willem Dafoe was cast as The Green Goblin, what other two actors were considered for the part in Spider-Man?

10. What three other directors had been set to direct Iron Man before Jon Favreau?