There are therefore at least two aspects to epics, two sets of distinguishing characteristics: those associated with historical, biblical, and ancient-world films and those associated with large-scale, high-cost productions. However, the term "epic" has also been used to identify-and to sell-films of all types that have used expensive technologies, high production values, and special modes of distribution and exhibition to differentiate themselves from routine productions and from rival forms of contemporary entertainment. But because of its links with ancient classical literature, it is associated above all with films set in biblical times or the ancient world. As a genre it thus encompasses a number of war films and westerns as well as films set in earlier periods. As a term, "epic" is associated with historical films of all kinds, particularly those dealing with events of national or global import or scale. And it has been recently revived with films such as Gladiator (2000), Troy (2004), and The Alamo (2004). It was particularly prevalent in the 1950s and 1960s, when epics of all kinds were produced to counter a decline in cinema attendance.
It was first used extensively in the 1910s and the 1920s: Variety's review of Ben-Hur (1925) noted that "the word epic has been applied to pictures time and again" (6 January 1926: 38). Like "musical," "comedy," "war film," and "Western," "epic" is a term used by Hollywood and its publicists, by reviewers, and by academic writers to identify a particular type of film.
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