Hollywood Means Business: 1948-1980

1. Hollywood Means Business:1948-1980 Life after Divorcement

2. Hollywood reinvents itself • Loss of theater chains destabilize the studio economically • Individual films become more crucial • Production totals drop with attendance drop • By retaining distribution rights, the majors were able to reassert control over their product and ensure profitability • In time, industry moves to integrate production and distribution into a larger and more diversified entertainment industry—but this takes time

3. The (temporary) rise of the independent theater • Smaller theaters were intended to benefit from the Paramount decision—and did briefly • Loss of B films and programmers starved independent theaters for movies to attract audiences (impact of changes in studios) • Loss of audience in all theaters in postwar period • 1947-1963: 48% of theaters in US closed • Drive-ins flourished, especially with teenpixand exploitation movies

4. The (temporary) rise of the independent film • After WWII, import of European films generated an audience for “art movies” • Auteur theory generated a group of film school trained American independent filmmakers, the “Hollywood Renaissance” • Studios believed a younger audience demanded more original, artistic, and less formulaic films—they were proved wrong by the late 1960s and early 1970s

5. The very end of the studios • “Roadshows” and “platform release” • Financial dependence on blockbusters spreads in mid-1970s • Studios can still force theaters to show their products through distribution methods like block booking • 1971: 14 movie made 50% of total income; fewer than 1/3 of the 185 others even made back their costs

6. Divorcement gives way to Fragmentation • Film packaging outside the studio; may contract with studio for • financing • distribution • studio space • “Independent” producers—but with studio control of distribution • UA as model for the new studio system

7. The stars shine bright . . . • Value of stars in ensuring profitability rose, as did their salaries • Talent agencies became independent producers as well, packaging stars, script, director and cast before selling the package • Fewer films flattened release patterns into first release and general release • By 1960, television release was part of the pattern, and studios with production facilities had become major suppliers of programming made for television

8. For the studio system: Finis • While Disney remained solvent, others faced financial ruin: closure, receiverships, and major retrenchment • New production companies, often headed by people from talent agencies or (ironically) from television production, gained power by producing successful blockbusters and selling them to the studios to distribute . . . • . . . But there was more money to be made in the 1980s . . . through the magic of . . .

9. Entertainment Industry Consolidation • 1980s—Reagan deregulated the industry • Link between production and distribution re-established as media conglomerates formed • Saturation booking replaced clearance • Subsidiary markets increased in importance • Willow, for example • International grosses also grew as Hollywood films dominated the world market