Hollywood Studio System

 - the hollywood studio system was at its most powerful around the 1930s 

- the big five major studios were MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros, RKO and Fox. 'The Big Five' had controlling stakes in their own theatre chains, which were exempt from block booking (-studios selling films in packages on an all-or-nothing basis). In some cases, one of the studios would even control all the theatres in a city so that all their films would be distributed, no matter the quality. 

- the studio system greatly benefited any notorious studios involved, essentially making the rich richer. Most of this was due to the studio system having direct control and influence over many aspects of film production and entire process of making movies: laboratories, creating prints and owning film processing in general. The studios had numerous actors, directors and writers under contract even granting them notoriety for what’s been branded ‘the star system’. In 1945 the studio system either partially or outright owned 17% of theatres, essentially assuring that any movie produced, despite budget or quality, would be seen.

-this factory method of production granted studios success mainly due to the fact that it ensured that films would be distributed regardless of quality and in turn allowed the studios to go on to produce lots of movies with low budgets and quality while still guaranteeing they would be seen. The studios had controlling stakes in several own theatre chains and in some cases a studio would even control all the theatres in a city, allowing the conglomerate to have almost total control over production and revenue.

-the eventual collapse of the studio system 1950s and 60s was a result of block booking being outlawed; up until this point the studio system had continued to generate success through block booking, however in 1948 a decision was made to ban this, followed by forcing studios to sell theatre chains. This meant that large studious no longer had any guarantee that their movies would be seen or distributed and resulted in studious making fewer movies and having to cut back on productions sets as well as produces, writers and stars. Though bad for the studio system, this ruling finally gave independent and minor film studios a chance and even allowed the Little Three to grow, creating more competition for bigger studios. In one case, Paramount’s profits dropped from 20 to a mere 6 million in one year.


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