The American Film Industry

The American Film Industry developed between 1895 and 1930. During this time the emerging industry developed into and important popular medium, organised into clearly defined exhibition, and distribution elements.

1930-1949 - American Film Studio Era

By 1930 the American film industry was dominated by five companies. These were know as the 'BIG FIVE':

• MGM
• 20th Century Fox
• Warner Brothers
• A Paramount Picture
• RKO

All five of these were vertically integrated.

Where a company is organised so that it oversees a product from the planning/development stage, through production, to marketing, and distribution, through to the consumer.

During the studio Era the Big Five owned the production studios, the distribution companies and most of the cinemas in the US but this is now seen as illegal.

Production Studio
Distribution
Cinemas

In 1949 studios were forced to sell off the cinema chains that they owned by the US government, after a court ruling that their practices were monopolistic. The American film industry decilined further in the 1950's due to the rise of television

Big Six

• Warner Brothers Production
• 20th Century Fox
• Paramount Pictures
• Columbia Pictures/sony
• Walt Disney/Touchstone
• Universal Studios

Wow Factor

• colour films
• widescreen
• stereo sound
• epic genres
• spectacle
• 3D
• Gimmicks