The Studio System

The Studio System - Classical Hollywood

• From the 1920s to the 1950s Hollywood was dominated by 8 large studios
• The big five (MGM, Warner, Paramount, RKO and Fox) they produced and distributed films and owned their own theatre chains
• The little 3 (Universal, Columbia and United Artists) they also distributed and produced but did not own theatre chains
• These 8 major studios controlled 95% of films shown in the USA 
• Commercial feature films were produced on studio lots
• Each studio developed a ‘house style’

“Studios had faced back then, They could bring you blindfolded into a movie house and you looked up and you knew’’- Billy Wilder

• Studio production peaked in the 1940s as studios efficiently produced mass entertainment films and cinema attendance was high
• After WW2 this success steadily went into decline - The US supreme court ruled that major studios should end block booking (selling multiple films in units to theatres, preventing independent films from getting in theatres)
• This resulted in the breakdown of vertically integrated studios and the rise of independent
• Also theatre attendance dropped due to the rise of TV and other leisure pursuits