A major, high-budget film produced to generate substantial box-office revenue and to provide financial support for a studio's slate of films.
A blockbuster intended to attract large audiences and sustain ancillary merchandising, sequels, or the studio's other releases.
2.
Internationalfigurativeinformal
Something that serves as the principal support or anchor for a larger enterprise or schedule.
Examples:
EN: It's an action film, it's a tentpole movie, so they tend to be more wall-to-wall.
ES: Es una película de acción, es una película de terror, por lo que tienden a ser más de pared a pared.
EN: Another movie that kind of just highlighted that horror could be just as much fun as any kind of other rollercoaster tentpole movie you were seeing at the time like Indiana Jones or something.
ES: Otra película que remarcaba que el terror podía ser tan divertido como cualquier otra película de "montaña rusa" que se estaban viendo en ese momento, como Indiana Jones, o algo así.