Drastically declining profits

• Studios combined profits:
  • 1946 $121 million
  • 1956 $32 million
• Actors under contract
  • 1947 742
  • 1956 229

Cause of the Decline

1. "Baby Boom"
• 1945-60
2. Paramount Case
   • Hollywood film industry divided into:
     • Production
     • Distribution
     • Exhibition
     • Which was vertically integrated
   • Major studios:
     • MGM, Paramount, RKO, 20th Century-Fox, Warners
   • Minor studios:
     • Columbia, Universal, UA
   • For current studios, see "Box Office Report "
   • 1948 Supreme Court orders "divorcement"
   • Encourages "independent" production
     • 1958: 65% of US films created by indies
3. House Un-American Activities Comm.--HUAC
   • 1947 Investigations begun into presumed communist activities
     • "Hollywood 10" refused to cooperate
     • Studios initially resisted HUAC, but soon caved in
   • 1951 HUAC returned
     • 90 persons testified
     • "Naming names"
     • Blacklisting began
4. Rise of TV
   • 1947 14,000 TV sets in US
   • 1948 172,000
   • 1949 1,000,000
   • 1950 4,000,000
   • End of '50s: 90% of US homes

Response to and Effects of the Decline

1. Technological innovations
   1. 3-D
   2. Color
      • 1935 Becky Sharp
        • First 3-color Technicolor feature film
      • 1950s inexpensive Eastmancolor developed
   3. Stereo sound
   4. Widescreen aspect ratios
      • Academy Ratio = 3 to 4
        • Same as TV
        • 1 to 1.33333333... or
        • 1.33
      • Cinerama
        • Three-projector system
      • CinemaScope--20th Century-Fox
        • Anamorphic process
        • 1 to 2.35
      • Masked widescreen
        • 1 to 1.85
      • Film-to-video conversion
        • Examples from He Said, She Sai and Ronin
        • Letterboxing
        • Pan-and-scan
2. Changes in Subject Matter (Content)
   • Breakdown of Production Code

Last revised: January 5, 2005 10:37