Cinema of the United States

"American Film" redirects here. For the magazine, seeAmerican Film(magazine).

Thecinemaof theUnited States,consisting mainly ofmajor film studios(also knownmetonymicallyasHollywood), along with someindependent films,has had a significant impact on the globalfilm industrysince the early20th century.

Cinema of the United States (Hollywood)
TheHollywood Signin theHollywood Hills,often regarded as the symbol of the American film industry
No.ofscreens	40,393 (2017)
• Per capita	14 per 100,000 (2017)
Main distributors	Disney Walt Disney Pictures 20th Century Studios Sony Columbia Pictures TriStar Pictures Comcast Universal Pictures Paramount Global Paramount Pictures Warner Bros. Discovery Warner Bros. Pictures New Line Cinema Amazon MGM
Produced feature films (2016)
Fictional	646 (98.5%)
Animated	10 (1.5%)
Number of admissions (2017)
Total	1,239,742,550
• Per capita	3.9 (2010)
Gross box office (2017)
Total	$11.1 billion

Classical Hollywood cinema,which developed from 1910 to 1962, is still typical of most films made in America today. While French filmmakersAuguste and Louis Lumièreare generally credited with the birth of modern cinema,American cinema soon came to be a dominant force in the emerging industry. With more than 600English-language filmsreleased annually as of 2017,it has produced the fourth-largest number of films of anynational cinema,afterIndia,Japan,andChina.While the national cinemas of theUnited Kingdom,Canada,Australia,andNew Zealandalso produce films in the same language, they are not part of the Hollywood system. Because of this, Hollywood has also been considered atransnational cinema,and has produced multiple language versions of some titles, often in Spanish or French. Contemporary Hollywood often outsources production to the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Themajor film studiosof Hollywood are the primary source of themost commercially successfuland most commercially successful movies in the world.

Hollywood is considered to be the oldest film industry, where the earliest film studios and production companies emerged. It is the birthplace of various genres of cinema—among themcomedy,drama,action,musical,romance,horror,science fiction,andepic—and has set the example for other national film industries.

In 1878,Eadweard Muybridgedemonstrated the power ofphotographyto capture motion. In 1894, the world's first commercial motion-picture exhibition was given inNew York City,usingThomas Edison'skinetoscopeand kinetograph.In the following decades, the production ofsilent filmsgreatly expanded, studios formed and migrated toCalifornia,and the films and stories they told became much longer. TheUnited Statesproduced the world's firstsync-soundmusical film,The Jazz Singer,in 1927,and was at the forefront of sound-film development in the following decades. It was fully released to the public on October 6, 1927. Since the early 20th century, the U.S. film industry has primarily been based in and around thethirty-mile zonecentered in theHollywoodneighborhood ofLos Angeles County, California.DirectorD. W. Griffithwas central to the development of afilm grammar.Orson Welles'sCitizen Kane(1941) is frequently cited in critics' polls as thegreatest film of all time.

History

Main article:History of cinema in the United States

Origins and Fort Lee

See also:Silent film

Justus D. BarnesinThe Great Train Robbery(1903), considered by some to be the firstWestern

The first recorded instance of photographs capturing and reproducing motion wasa series of photographs of a running horsebyEadweard Muybridge,which he took inPalo Alto, California,using a set of still cameras placed in a row. Muybridge's accomplishment led inventors everywhere to attempt to make similar devices. In theUnited States,Thomas Edisonwas among the first to produce such a device, thekinetoscope and kinetograph.

Harold Lloydin the clock scene fromSafety Last!(1923)

The history of cinema in theUnited Statescan trace its roots to theEast Coast,where, at one time,Fort Lee, New Jersey,was the motion-picture capital of America. The American film industry began at the end of the 19th century, with the construction of Thomas Edison's "Black Maria",the firstmotion-picture studioinWest Orange, New Jersey.The cities and towns on theHudson RiverandHudson Palisadesoffered land at costs considerably less than New York City across the river, and benefited greatly as a result of the phenomenal growth of the film industry at the turn of the 20th century.

The industry began attracting both capital and innovative work forces. In 1907, when theKalem Companybegan using Fort Lee as a location for filming in the area, other filmmakers quickly followed. In 1909, a forerunner ofUniversal Studios,theChampion Film Company,built the first studio.Others quickly followed and either built new studios or leased facilities in Fort Lee. In the 1910s and1920s,film companies such as theIndependent Moving PicturesCompany,Peerless Pictures Studios,Solax Studios,Eclair,Goldwyn Pictures Corporation,Star Film(Georges Méliès),World Film Company,Biograph Studios,Fox Film Corporation,Société Pathé Frères,Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.,Victor Film Company,andSelznick International Pictureswere all making pictures in Fort Lee. Such notables asMary Pickfordgot their start at Biograph Studios.

In New York, theKaufman Astoria StudiosinQueens,which was built during the silent film era, was used by theMarx BrothersandW.C. Fields.TheEdison Studioswere located inthe Bronx.Chelsea, Manhattan,was also frequently used.

Other Eastern cities, most notablyChicagoandCleveland,also served as early centers for film production.

In the West,Californiawas already quickly emerging as a major film production center. InColorado,Denverwas home to theArt-O-GrafFilm Company, andWalt Disney's earlyLaugh-O-Gram Studiowas based inKansas City,Missouri.

From 1908,Jacksonville, Florida's motion picture industrysaw more than 30 silent film companies establish studios in town, includingKalem Studios,Metro Pictures(laterMGM),Edison Studios,Majestic Films,King-Bee Films Corporation,Vim Comedy Company,Norman Studios,Gaumont Film Companyand theLubin Manufacturing Company.

Picture City, Floridawas a planned site for a movie picture production center in the 1920s, but due to the1928 Okeechobee hurricane,the idea collapsed andPicture City, Floridareturned to its original name ofHobe Sound.

An attempt to establish a film production center inDetroitalso proved unsuccessful.

The film patents wars of the early 20th century helped the spread of film companies to other parts of the US, outside New York. Many filmmakers worked with equipment for which they did not own the rights to use. Therefore, filming in New York could be dangerous, as it was close to Edison's company headquarters, and close to the agents the company sent out to seize cameras.

An alternative wasLos Angeles,which had mild winters, a large selection of places to film, and, most importantly, it was only 90 miles to the border ofMexico,in case they needed to run if Edison's enforcement agents found them. By 1912, most major film companies had set up production facilities inSouthern California,near or inLos Angeles,because of the region's favorable year-round weather.

Rise of Hollywood

"History of Hollywood" redirects here. For the history of the Los Angeles neighborhood, seeHollywood, Los Angeles § History.

Sylvester Stallone

The 1908Selig Polyscope Companyproduction ofThe Count of Monte Cristo,directed byFrancis Boggsand starringHobart Bosworth,was claimed as the first to have been filmed inLos Angeles,in 1907. A plaque was unveiled by the city, in 1957, atDearden'sflagship store on the corner ofMain Streetand 7th Street, to mark the filming on the site when it had been a Chinese laundry.Bosworth's widow suggested the city had got the date and location wrong, and that the film was actually shot in nearbyVenice,which at the time was an independent city.In the Sultan's Power,directed by Boggs for Selig Polyscope Company, also starring Bosworth, is considered the first film shot entirely in Los Angeles, with shooting at 7th and Olive Streets, in 1909.

In early 1910, directorD. W. Griffithwas sent by theBiograph Companyto the West Coast with his acting troupe, consisting of actors:Blanche Sweet,Lillian Gish,Mary Pickford,Lionel Barrymoreand others. They started filming on a vacant lot near Georgia Street in downtown Los Angeles. While there, the company decided to explore new territories, traveling several miles north to Hollywood: a little village that was friendly and enjoyed the movie company filming there. Griffith then filmed the first movie ever shot in Hollywood,In Old California,a Biograph melodrama about California in the 19th century, whenthe state was under Mexican rule.Griffith stayed there for months and made several films before returning to New York. Also in 1910, Selig Polyscope Company of Chicago established the first film studio in the Los Angeles area inEdendale,and the first studio in Hollywood opened in 1912.After hearing about Griffith's success in Hollywood, in 1913, many movie-makers headed west to avoid the fees imposed byThomas Edison,who owned patents on the movie-making process.Nestor StudiosofBayonne, New Jersey,built the first studio in the Hollywood neighborhood in 1911.Nestor Studios, owned by David and William Horsley, later merged with Universal Studios; and William Horsley's other company, Hollywood Film Laboratory, is now the oldest existing company in Hollywood, presently called the Hollywood Digital Laboratory.California's more hospitable and cost-effective climate led to the eventual shift of virtually all filmmaking to theWest Coastby the 1930s. At the time,Thomas Edisonowned almost all the patents relevant to motion picture production and movie producers on the East Coast acting independently of Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company were often sued or enjoined by Edison and his agents while movie makers working on the West Coast could work independently of Edison's control.

TheHollywood Walk of FameonHollywood Boulevard

In Los Angeles, thestudiosand Hollywood grew. BeforeWorld War I,films were made in several American cities, but filmmakers tended to gravitate towardssouthern Californiaas the industry developed. They were attracted by the warm, predictable climate with reliable sunlight, which made it possible to film their films outdoors year-round alongside the varied scenery that was available.War damage contributed to the decline of the then-dominant European film industry, in favor of theUnited States,where infrastructure was still intact.The stronger early public health response to the1918 fluepidemic by Los Angelescompared to other American cities reduced the number of cases there and resulted in a faster recovery, contributing to the increasing dominance of Hollywood over New York City.During the pandemic, public health officials temporarily closed movie theaters in some jurisdictions, large studios suspended production for weeks at a time, and some actors came down with the flu. This caused major financial losses and severe difficulties for small studios, but the industry as a whole more than recovered during theRoaring Twenties.

In the early 20th century, when the medium was new, many Jewish immigrants found employment in the US film industry. They were able to make their mark in a brand-new business: the exhibition of short films in storefront theaters callednickelodeons,after their admission price of anickel(five cents). Within a few years, men likeSamuel Goldwyn,William Fox,Carl Laemmle,Adolph Zukor,Louis B. Mayer,and theWarner Brothers(Harry, Albert, Samuel, and Jack) had switched to the production side of the business. Soon they were the heads of a new kind of enterprise: themovie studio.The US had at least two female directors, producers and studio heads in these early years:Lois Weberand French-bornAlice Guy-Blaché.They also set the stage for the industry's internationalism; the industry is often accused ofAmero centricprovincialism.

Other moviemakers arrived from Europe after World War I: directors likeErnst Lubitsch,Alfred Hitchcock,Fritz LangandJean Renoir;and actors likeRudolph Valentino,Marlene Dietrich,Ronald Colman,andCharles Boyer.They joined a homegrown supply of actors—lured west from the New York City stage after the introduction of sound films—to form one of the 20th century's most remarkable growth industries. At motion pictures' height of popularity in the mid-1940s, the studios were cranking out a total of about 400 movies a year, seen by an audience of 90 million Americans per week.

Buster Keatonin costume with his signaturepork pie hat,c. 1939

Sound also became widely used in Hollywood in the late 1920s.AfterThe Jazz Singer,the first film with synchronized voices was successfully released as aVitaphonetalkie in 1927, Hollywood film companies would respond to Warner Bros. and begin to use Vitaphone sound—which Warner Bros. owned until 1928—in future films. By May 1928, Electrical Research Product Incorporated (ERPI), a subsidiary of the Western Electric company, gained a monopoly over film sound distribution.

A side effect of these "talkies"was that many actors who had made their careers in silent films suddenly found themselves out of work, as they often had bad voices or could not remember their lines. Meanwhile, in 1922, US politicianWill H. Haysleft politics and formed the movie studio boss organization known as the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA).The organization became theMotion Picture Association of Americaafter Hays retired in 1945.

In the early times of talkies, American studios found that their sound productions were rejected in foreign-language markets and even among speakers of other dialects of English. Thesynchronizationtechnology was still too primitive fordubbing.One of the solutions was creating parallel foreign-language versions of Hollywood films. Around 1930, the American companiesopened a studio inJoinville-le-Pont,France, where the same sets and wardrobe and even mass scenes were used for different time-sharing crews.

Also, foreign unemployed actors, playwrights, and winners of photogenic contests were chosen and brought to Hollywood, where they shot parallel versions of the English-language films. These parallel versions had a lower budget, were shot at night and were directed by second-line American directors who did not speak the foreign language. The Spanish-language crews included people likeLuis Buñuel,Enrique Jardiel Poncela,Xavier Cugat,andEdgar Neville.The productions were not very successful in their intended markets, due to the following reasons:

Brown Derby,an icon that became synonymous with the Golden Age of Hollywood.

• The lower budgets were apparent.
• Many theater actors had no previous experience in cinema.
• The original movies were often second-rate themselves since studios expected that the top productions would sell by themselves.
• The mix of foreign accents (Castilian, Mexican, and Chilean for example in the Spanish case) was odd for the audiences.
• Some markets lacked sound-equipped theaters.

Classical Hollywood cinema and the Golden Age of Hollywood

Main article:Classical Hollywood cinema

Stars of theClassical Hollywood cinemaera (c. 1913–1962). Top row, l-r:Greta Garbo,Humphrey Bogart,Lauren Bacall,Clark Gable,Katharine Hepburn,Fred Astaire,Ginger Rogers,Marlon Brando,theMarx Brothers,Joan Crawford.Second row, l-r:John Wayne,James Stewart,Buster Keaton,Claudette Colbert,Gene Kelly,Burt Lancaster,Judy Garland,Gregory Peck,Elizabeth Taylor,Kirk Douglas.Third row, l-r:Bette Davis,Audrey Hepburn,Jean Harlow,Alfred Hitchcock,John Ford,Howard Hawks,Grace Kelly,Laurence Olivier,Marlene Dietrich,James Cagney.Fourth row, l-r:Ava Gardner,Cary Grant,Ingrid Bergman,Henry Fonda,Marilyn Monroe,James Dean,Orson Welles,Mae West,William Holden,Sophia Loren.Bottom row, l-r:Vivien Leigh,Joan FontaineandGary Cooper,Spencer Tracy,Barbara Stanwyck,Lillian Gish,Tyrone Power,Shirley Temple,Janet LeighwithCharlton Heston,Rita Hayworth,Mary Pickford.

Classical Hollywood cinema,or the Golden Age of Hollywood, is defined as a technical and narrative style characteristic of American cinema from 1913 to 1962, during which thousands of movies were issued from the Hollywood studios. The Classical style began to emerge in 1913, was accelerated in 1917 after the U.S. enteredWorld War I,and finally solidified when the filmThe Jazz Singerwas released in 1927, ending the silent film era and increasing box-office profits for the film industry by introducing sound to feature films.

Most Hollywood pictures adhered closely to a formula—Western,slapstick comedy,musical,animated cartoon,biographical—and the same creative teams often worked on films made by the same studio. For example,Cedric GibbonsandHerbert Stothartalways worked onMGMfilms,Alfred Newmanworked at20th Century Foxfor twenty years,Cecil B. De Mille's films were almost all made atParamount,and directorHenry King's films were mostly made for20th Century Fox.

At the same time, one could usually guess which studio made which film, largely because of the actors who appeared in it;MGM,for example, claimed it had contracted "more stars than there are in heaven." Each studio had its own style and characteristic touches which made it possible to know this—a trait that rarely exists today.

For example,To Have and Have Not(1944) is notable not only for the first pairing of actorsHumphrey Bogart(1899–1957) andLauren Bacall(1924–2014), but because it was written by two future winners of theNobel Prize in Literature:Ernest Hemingway(1899–1961), the author of the novel on which the script was nominally based, andWilliam Faulkner(1897–1962), who worked on the screen adaptation.

AfterThe Jazz Singerwas released in 1927,Warner Bros.gained huge success and were able to acquire their own string of movie theaters after purchasing Stanley Theaters andFirst NationalProductions in 1928. In contrast,Loews theatersownedMGMsince forming in 1924, while the Fox Film Corporation owned theFox Theatre.RKO(a 1928 merger betweenKeith-Orpheum Theatersand theRadio Corporation of America) also responded to the Western Electric/ERPI monopoly over sound in films, and developed their own method, known asPhotophone,to put sound in films.

Paramount, which acquired Balaban and Katz in 1926, would answer to the success of Warner Bros. and RKO by purchasing a number of theaters in the late 1920s, and would hold a monopoly on theaters inDetroit, Michigan.By the 1930s, almost all of the first-run metropolitan theaters in theUnited Stateswere owned by the Big Five studios—MGM,Paramount Pictures,RKO,Warner Bros.,and20th Century Fox.

Rise and decline of the studio system

Hollywood movie studios in 1922

Motion picture companies operated under thestudio system.The major studios kept thousands of people on salary—actors, producers, directors, writers, stunt men, crafts persons, and technicians. They owned or leasedMovie Ranchesin rural Southern California forlocation shootingofwesternsand other large-scale genre films, and the major studios owned hundreds of theaters in cities and towns across the nation in 1920 film theaters that showed their films and that were always in need of fresh material.

Spencer Tracy,who was the first actor to winBest Actoraward over two consecutive years for his roles inCaptains Courageous(1937) andBoys Town(1938) (and received seven other nominations)

In 1930, MPPDA President Will Hays created theHays (Production) Code,which followed censorship guidelines and went into effect after government threats of censorship expanded by 1930.However, the code was never enforced until 1934, after the Catholic watchdog organizationThe Legion of Decency—appalled by some of the provocative films and lurid advertising of the era later classifiedPre-Code Hollywood—threatened a boycott of motion pictures if it did not go into effect.The films that did not obtain a seal of approval from the Production Code Administration had to pay a $25,000 fine (equivalent to $455,976 in 2023) and could not profit in the theaters, as the MPPDA controlled every theater in the country through the Big Five studios.

Throughout the 1930s, as well as most of the golden age,MGMdominated the film screen and had the top stars in Hollywood, and they were also credited for creating theHollywood star systemaltogether.SomeMGMstars included "King of Hollywood"Clark Gable,Lionel Barrymore,Jean Harlow,Norma Shearer,Greta Garbo,Joan Crawford,Jeanette MacDonald,Gene Raymond,Spencer Tracy,Judy Garland,andGene Kelly.

Another great achievement of American cinema during this era came through Walt Disney'sanimation company.In 1937, Disney created the most successful film of its time,Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.This distinction was promptly topped in 1939 when Selznick International created what is still, when adjusted for inflation, the most successful film of all time inGone with the Wind.

Many film historians have remarked upon the many great works of cinema that emerged from this period of highly regimented filmmaking. One reason this was possible is that, with so many movies being made, not everyone had to be a big hit. A studio could gamble on a medium-budget feature with a good script and relatively unknown actors:Citizen Kane,directed byOrson Welles(1915–1985) and often regarded as thegreatest film of all time,fits this description. In other cases, strong-willed directors likeHoward Hawks(1896–1977),Alfred Hitchcock(1899–1980), andFrank Capra(1897–1991) battled the studios in order to achieve their artistic visions.

The apogee of the studio system may have been the year 1939, which saw the release of such classics asThe Wizard of Oz,Gone with the Wind,Stagecoach,Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,Wuthering Heights,Only Angels Have Wings,NinotchkaandMidnight.Among the other films from the Golden Age period that are now considered to be classics:Casablanca,It's a Wonderful Life,It Happened One Night,the originalKing Kong,Mutiny on the Bounty,Top Hat,City Lights,Red River,The Lady from Shanghai,Rear Window,On the Waterfront,Rebel Without a Cause,Some Like It Hot,andThe Manchurian Candidate.

Percentage of the U..S population that went to the cinema on average, weekly between 1930 and 2000

Walt Disneyintroduces each of theseven dwarfsin a scene from the original 1937Snow Whitemovie trailer

The studio system and the Golden Age of Hollywood succumbed to two forces that developed in the late 1940s:

• afederal antitrust actionthat separated the production of films from their exhibition; and
• the advent oftelevision.

In 1938, Walt Disney'sSnow White and the Seven Dwarfswas released during a run of lackluster films from the major studios, and quickly became the highest grossing film released to that point. Embarrassingly for the studios, it was an independently produced animated film that did not feature any studio-employed stars.This stoked already widespread frustration at the practice ofblock-booking,in which studios would only sell an entire year's schedule of films at a time to theaters and use thelock-into cover for releases of mediocre quality.

Assistant Attorney GeneralThurman Arnold—a noted "trust buster"of the Roosevelt administration—took this opportunity to initiate proceedings against the eight largest Hollywood studios in July 1938 for violations of theSherman Antitrust Act.The federal suit resulted in five of the eight studios (the "Big Five":Warner Bros.,MGM,Fox,RKOandParamount) reaching a compromise with Arnold in October 1940 and signing aconsent decreeagreeing to, within three years:

• Eliminate the block-booking of short film subjects, in an arrangement known as "one shot", or "full force" block-booking.
• Eliminate the block-booking of any more than five features in their theaters.
• No longer engage inblind buying(or the buying of films by theater districts without seeing films beforehand) and instead havetrade-showing,in which all 31 theater districts in the US would see films every two weeks before showing movies in theaters.
• Set up an administration board in each theater district to enforce these requirements.

Humphrey BogartwithIngrid BergmaninCasablanca(1942)

The "Little Three" (Universal Studios,United Artists,andColumbia Pictures), who did not own any theaters, refused to participate in the consent decree.A number of independent film producers were also unhappy with the compromise and formed a union known as the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers and sued Paramount for the monopoly they still had over the Detroit Theaters—as Paramount was also gaining dominance through actors like Bob Hope, Paulette Goddard, Veronica Lake, Betty Hutton, crooner Bing Crosby, Alan Ladd, and longtime actor for studioGary Coopertoo- by 1942. The Big Five studios did not meet the requirements of the Consent of Decree during WWII, without major consequence, but after the war ended they joined Paramount as defendants in the Hollywood antitrust case, as did the Little Three studios.

TheUnited States Supreme Courteventually ruled inUnited States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.that the major studios ownership of theaters and film distribution was a violation of theSherman Antitrust Act.As a result, the studios began to release actors and technical staff from their contracts with the studios. This changed the paradigm of film making by the major Hollywood studios, as each could have an entirely different cast and creative team.

The decision resulted in the gradual loss of the characteristics which made Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Columbia Pictures, RKO Pictures, and 20th Century Fox films immediately identifiable. Certain movie people, such asCecil B. DeMille,either remained contract artists until the end of their careers or used the same creative teams on their films so that a DeMille film still looked like one whether it was made in 1932 or 1956.

New Hollywood and post-classical cinema

Main article:New Hollywood

Director and producerSteven Spielberg,co-founder ofDreamWorks Studiosand Amblin Entertainment, Inc

Post-classical cinema is the changing methods of storytelling in the New Hollywood. It has been argued that new approaches to drama and characterization played upon audience expectations acquired in the classical period: chronology may be scrambled, storylines may feature "twist endings",and lines between theantagonistandprotagonistmay be blurred. The roots of post-classical storytelling may be seen infilm noir,inRebel Without a Cause(1955), and in Hitchcock's storyline-shatteringPsycho.

TheNew Hollywoodis the emergence of a new generation of film school-trained directors who had absorbed the techniques developed in Europe in the 1960s as a result of the French New Wave; the 1967 filmBonnie and Clydemarked the beginning of American cinema rebounding as well, as a new generation of films would afterwards gain success at the box offices as well.Filmmakers likeFrancis Ford Coppola,Steven Spielberg,George Lucas,Brian De Palma,Stanley Kubrick,Martin Scorsese,Roman Polanski,andWilliam Friedkincame to produce fare that paid homage to the history of film and developed upon existing genres and techniques. Inaugurated by the 1969 release ofAndy Warhol'sBlue Movie,the phenomenon ofadult erotic filmsbeing publicly discussed by celebrities (likeJohnny CarsonandBob Hope),and taken seriously by critics (likeRoger Ebert),a development referred to, by Ralph Blumenthal ofThe New York Times,as "porno chic",and later known as theGolden Age of Porn,began, for the first time, in modern American culture.According to award-winning authorToni Bentley,Radley Metzger's1976 filmThe Opening of Misty Beethoven,based on the playPygmalionbyGeorge Bernard Shaw(and its derivative,My Fair Lady), and due to attaining a mainstream level in storyline and sets,is considered the "crown jewel" of this 'Golden Age'.

At the height of his fame in the early 1970s,Charles Bronsonwas the world's No. 1 box office attraction, commanding $1 million per film.In the 1970s, the films of New Hollywood filmmakers were often both critically acclaimed and commercially successful. While the early New Hollywood films likeBonnie and ClydeandEasy Riderhad been relatively low-budget affairs with amoral heroes and increased sexuality and violence, the enormous success enjoyed by Friedkin withThe Exorcist,Spielberg withJaws,Coppola withThe GodfatherandApocalypse Now,Scorsese withTaxi Driver,Kubrick with2001: A Space Odyssey,Polanski withChinatown,and Lucas withAmerican GraffitiandStar Wars,respectively helped to give rise to the modern "blockbuster",and induced studios to focus ever more heavily on trying to produce enormous hits.

Rise of the modern blockbuster and independent films

Tom Hanks,who has won two Academy Awards for Best Actor for his performances inPhiladelphiaandForrest Gumpand has starred in numerous beloved films such asSaving Private Ryan,Cast AwayandToy Story

In the US, thePG-13rating was introduced in 1984 to accommodate films that straddled the line between PG and R, which was mainly due to the controversies surrounding the violent content of the PG filmsIndiana Jones and the Temple of DoomandGremlins(both 1984).

Filmmakers in the 1990s had access to technological, political and economic innovations that had not been available in previous decades.Dick Tracy(1990) became the first35 mmfeature film with adigitalsoundtrack.Batman Returns(1992) was the first film to make use of theDolby Digitalsix-channel stereo sound that has since become the industry standard. Computer-generated imagery was greatly facilitated when it became possible to transfer film images into a computer and manipulate them digitally. The possibilities became apparent in directorJames Cameron'sTerminator 2: Judgment Day(1991), in images of the shape-changing characterT-1000.Computer graphicsor CG advanced to a point whereJurassic Park(1993) was able to use the techniques to create realistic looking animals.Jackpot(2001) became the first film that was shot entirely in digital.In the filmTitanic,Cameron wanted to push the boundary of special effects with his film, and enlistedDigital DomainandPacific Data Imagesto continue the developments in digital technology which the director pioneered while working onThe AbyssandTerminator 2: Judgment Day.Many previous films about the RMSTitanicshot water inslow motion,which did not look wholly convincing.Cameron encouraged his crew to shoot their 45-foot-long (14 m)miniatureof the ship as if "we're making a commercial for the White Star Line".

American film industry (1995–2017)
All values in billions

Year	Tickets	Revenue
1995	1.22	$5.31
1996	1.31	$5.79
1997	1.39	$6.36
1998	1.44	$6.77
1999	1.44	$7.34
2000	1.40	$7.54
2001	1.48	$8.36
2002	1.58	$9.16
2003	1.52	$9.20
2004	1.50	$9.29
2005	1.37	$8.80
2006	1.40	$9.16
2007	1.42	$9.77
2008	1.36	$9.75
2009	1.42	$10.64
2010	1.33	$10.48
2011	1.28	$10.17
2012	1.40	$11.16
2013	1.34	$10.89
2014	1.26	$10.27
2015	1.32	$11.16
2016	1.30	$11.26
2017	1.23	$10.99
As compiled byThe Numbers

EvenThe Blair Witch Project(1999), a low-budget indiehorror filmbyEduardo SanchezandDaniel Myrick,was a huge financial success. Filmed on a budget of just $35,000, without any big stars or special effects, the film grossed $248 million with the use of modern marketing techniques and online promotion. Though not on the scale ofGeorge Lucas's $1 billion prequel to theStar Wars Trilogy,The Blair Witch Projectearned the distinction of being the most profitable film of all time, in terms of percentage gross.

The success ofBlair Witchas an indie project remains among the few exceptions, however, and control ofThe Big Fivestudios over filmmaking continued to increase through the 1990s. The Big Six companies all enjoyed a period of expansion in the 1990s. They each developed different ways to adjust to rising costs in the film industry, especially the rising salaries of movie stars, driven by powerful agents. The biggest stars likeSylvester Stallone,Russell Crowe,Tom Cruise,Nicole Kidman,Sandra Bullock,Arnold Schwarzenegger,Mel Gibson,Kevin Bacon,andJulia Robertsreceived between $15–$20 million per film and in some cases were even given a share of the film's profits.

Screenwriterson the other hand were generally paid less than the top actors or directors, usually under $1 million per film. However, the single largest factor driving rising costs was special effects. By 1999 the average cost of ablockbuster filmwas $60 million before marketing and promotion, which cost another $80 million.

Contemporary cinema

Since the beginning of 21st century, the theatrical marketplace has slowly been dominated by thesuperherogenre. As of 2022,they are the best-paying productions for actors, because paychecks in other genres have shrunk for even top actors.In 2023 and 2024, however, Hollywood experts pointed to 'superhero fatigue' as an emerging trend.Actors such asPaul Danoand directors likeMatthew Vaughnhave made similar arguments.

In 2021, despite theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United States,blockbuster films such asBlack Widow,F9,Death on the NileandWest Side Storywere released in theaters after being postponed from their initial 2020 release dates.

TheOcean's Elevencast (left to right):Brad Pitt,George Clooney,Matt Damon,Andy García,Julia Roberts,andSteven Soderbergh.

Various studios responded to the crisis with controversial decisions toforgo the theatrical windowand give their filmsday-and-date releases.NBCUniversalreleasedTrolls World Tourdirectly tovideo-on-demandrental on April 10,while simultaneously receiving limited domestic theatrical screenings via drive-in cinemas;CEOJeff Shellclaims that the film had reached nearly $100 million in revenue within the first three weeks.The decision was opposed byAMC Theatres,which then announced that its screenings of Universal Pictures films would cease immediately, though the two companies would eventually agree to a 2-week theatrical window.By December 2020,Warner Bros. Picturesannounced their decision to simultaneously release its slate of 2021 films in both theaters and its streaming siteHBO Maxfor a period of one month in order to maximize viewership.The move was vehemently criticized by various industry figures, many of whom were reportedly uninformed of the decision before the announcement and felt deceived by the studio.

2019 onwards has seen the rise of American streaming platforms, such asNetflix,Disney+,Paramount+,andApple TV+,which came to rival traditional cinema.Industry commentators have noted the increasing treatment of films as "content"by corporations that correlate with the increased popularity of streaming platforms.This involves the blurring of boundaries between films, television and other forms of media as more people consume them together in a variety of ways, with individual films defined more by their brand identity and commercial potential rather than their medium, stories and artistry.CriticMatt Zoller Seitzhas described the release ofAvengers: Endgamein 2019 as "represent[ing] the decisive defeat of 'cinema' by 'content'"due to its grand success as a" piece of entertainment "defined by the Marvel brand that culminates a series of blockbuster films that has traits of serial television.

Tom Cruise,in a pre-recorded segment, skydived from theStade de Franceto theHollywood Sign,where he landed and affixed the five Olympic rings, marking the handover of theGames to Los Angelesin 2028 during the Olympicsclosing ceremony.

The filmsSpace Jam: A New LegacyandRed Noticehave been cited as examples of this treatment, with the former being described by many critics as "a lengthy infomercial for HBO Max", featuring scenes and characters recalling various Warner Bros. properties such asCasablanca,The MatrixandAustin Powers,while the latter is a $200 million heist film from Netflix that critics described "a movie that feels more processed by a machine [...] instead of anything approaching artistic intent or even an honest desire to entertain."Some have expressed thatSpace Jamdemonstrates the industry's increasingly cynical treatment of films as mereintellectual property(IP) to be exploited, an approach which critic Scott Mendelson called "IP for the sake of IP."

Martin Scorsesehas warned that cinema as an art form is "being systematically devalued, sidelined, demeaned, and reduced" to "content" and called blockbusters' overemphasis on box-office returns "repulsive".Quentin Tarantinoopined that the 2020s were one of the "worst" eras "in Hollywood history" on a podcast interview.During a masterclass at the 2023Sarajevo Film Festival,Charlie Kaufmancriticized mainstream blockbusters, stating that "[a]t this point, the only thing that makes money is garbage" and encouraged industry professionals to "make movies outside of the studio system as much as possible".James Graynoted in an interview withDeadline,"When you make movies that only make a ton of money and only one kind of movie, you begin to get a large segment of the population out of the habit of going to the movies", which causes viewership to decrease, though clarified that he has "no problem with a comic book movie". As a solution to the lack of "investment in the broad-based engagement with the product", he suggests that studios "be willing to lose money for a couple of years on art film divisions, and in the end they will be happier."

Hollywood and politics

Main article:Good Neighbor policy

The 81stAcademy Awardsat theDolby TheatreinHollywoodin 2009

In the 1930s, theDemocratsand theRepublicanssaw money in Hollywood. PresidentFranklin Rooseveltsaw a huge partnership with Hollywood. He used the first real potential of Hollywood's stars in a national campaign.Melvyn Douglasand his wife Helen touredWashington, D.C.,in 1939 and met the key New Dealers.

Political endorsements

See also:Hollywood blacklistandList of Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign celebrity endorsements

Endorsements letters from leading actors were signed, radio appearances and printed advertising were made. Movie stars were used to draw a large audience into the political view of the party. By the 1960s,John F. Kennedywas a new, young face for Washington, and his strong friendship withFrank Sinatraexemplified this new era of glamour. The last moguls of Hollywood were gone, and younger, newer executives and producers began pushing moreliberalideas.

Celebrities and money attracted politicians into the high-class, glittering Hollywood lifestyle. AsRon Brownsteinwrote in his bookThe Power and the Glitter,television in the 1970s and 1980s was an enormously important new media in politics and Hollywood helped in that media with actors making speeches on their political beliefs, likeJane Fondaagainst the Vietnam War.Despite most celebrities and producers being left-leaning and tending to support theDemocratic Party,this era produced someRepublicanactors and producers such asClint EastwoodandJerry Bruckheimer.Support groups such as theFriends of Abewere set up to support conservative causes in Hollywood, which is perceived as biased against conservatives.Former actorRonald Reaganbecamegovernor of Californiaand subsequently became the 40thpresident of the United States.It continued withArnold Schwarzeneggeras California's governor in2003.

Political donations

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

Today, donations from Hollywood help to fund federal politics.On February 20, 2007, for example, Democratic then-presidential candidateBarack Obamahad a $2,300-a-plate Hollywood gala, being hosted byDreamWorksfoundersDavid Geffen,Jeffrey Katzenberg,andSteven Spielbergat the Beverly Hilton.

Criticisms

Covert advertising

Native advertisingis information designed to persuade in more subtle ways than classicpropaganda.A modern example common in theUnited StatesisCopa Ganda,in which TV shows display unrealistically flattering portrayals of law enforcement, in part to borrow equipment and get their assistance in blocking off streets to more easily film on location.Otherreputation launderingaccusations have been leveled in the entertainment industry, including the burnishing the image of the Mafia.

Product placementalso has been a point of criticism, with the tobacco industry promoting smoking on screen.The Centers for Disease Control cites that 18% of teen smokers would not start smoking if films with smoking were automatically given an 'R' rating, which would save 1 million lives.

Censorship

See also:Overseas censorship of Chinese issuesandList of TV and films critical of Chinese Communist Party

Hollywood producers generally seek to comply with theChinese government's censorship requirements in a bid to access the country's restricted and lucrative cinema market,with the second-largest box office in the world as of 2016. This includes prioritizing sympathetic portrayals of Chinese characters in movies, such as changing the villains inRed Dawnfrom Chinese to North Koreans.Due to many topics forbidden in China, such as Dalai Lama andWinnie-the-Poohbeing involved in theSouth Park's episode "Band in China",South Park was entirely banned in China after the episode's broadcast.The 2018 filmChristopher Robin,the new Winnie-the-Pooh movie, was denied a Chinese release.

AlthoughTibetwas previously acause célèbrein Hollywood, featuring in films includingKundunandSeven Years in Tibet,in the 21st century this is no longer the case.In 2016,Marvel Entertainmentattracted criticism for its decision to cast Tilda Swinton as "The Ancient One" in the film adaptationDoctor Strange,using a white woman to play a traditionally Tibetan character.Actor and high-profile Tibet supporterRichard Gerestated that he was no longer welcome to participate in mainstream Hollywood films after criticizing the Chinese government and calling for a boycott of the2008 Summer Olympicsin Beijing.

Historic examples

Hollywood alsoself-censored any negative depictions of Nazisfor most of the 1930s in order to maintain access to German audiences.Around that timeeconomic censorshipresulted in theself-censoringof content to please the group wielding their economic influence.TheHays Codewas an industry-led effort from 1930–1967 to strict self-censorship in order to appease religious objections to certain content and stave off any government censorship that could have resulted.

Relationship with the military

Main article:Military–entertainment complex

Sexual abuse scandals

Main article:Sexual abuse in the American film industry

Global Hollywood

TheChinese Theatrebefore 2007

TheEl Capitan Theatre

Egyptian Theatremain entry

Political economy of communication researchers have long focused on the international or global presence, power, profitability and popularity of Hollywood films. Books on global Hollywood by Toby Miller and Richard Maxwell,Janet Wasko and Mary Erickson,Kerry Segrave,John Trump Bourand Tanner Mirlesexamine the international political economy of Hollywood's power.

According to Tanner Mirles, Hollywood relies on four capitalist strategies "to attract and integrate non-US film producers, exhibitors and audiences into its ambit: ownership, cross-border productions with subordinate service providers, content licensing deals with exhibitors, and blockbusters designed to travel the globe."

In 1912, American film companies were largely immersed in the competition for the domestic market. It was difficult to satisfy the huge demand for films created by thenickelodeonboom.Motion Picture Patents Companymembers such asEdison Studios,also sought to limit competition from French, Italian, and other imported films. Exporting films, then, became lucrative to these companies.Vitagraph Studioswas the first American company to open its own distribution offices in Europe, establishing a branch in London in 1906, and a second branch in Paris shortly after.

Other American companies were moving into foreign markets as well, and American distribution abroad continued to expand until the mid-1920s. Originally, a majority of companies sold their films indirectly. However, since they were inexperienced in overseas trading, they simply sold the foreign rights to their films to foreign distribution firms or export agents. Gradually, London became a center for the international circulation of US films.

Dolby Theatre,Hollywood's renowned venue for the prestigious Academy Awards ceremony, which honors excellence in film

Many British companies made a profit by acting as the agents for this business, and by doing so, they weakened British production by turning over a large share of the UK market to American films. By 1911, approximately 60 to 70 percent of films imported into Great Britain were American. TheUnited Stateswas also doing well in Germany, Australia, and New Zealand.

More recently, as globalization has started to intensify, and theUnited Statesgovernment has been actively promoting free trade agendas and trade on cultural products, Hollywood has become a worldwide cultural source. The success on Hollywood export markets can be known not only from the boom of American multinational media corporations across the globe but also from the unique ability to make big-budget films that appeal powerfully to popular tastes in many different cultures.

With globalization, movie production has been clustered in Hollywood for several reasons: theUnited Stateshas the largest single home market in dollar terms, entertaining and highly visible Hollywood movies have global appeal, and the role of English as a universal language contributes to compensating for higher fixed costs of production.

Hollywood has moved more deeply into Chinese markets, although influenced by China's censorship. Films made in China are censored, strictly avoiding themes like "ghosts, violence, murder, horror, and demons." Such plot elements risk being cut. Hollywood has had to make "approved" films, corresponding to official Chinese standards, but with aesthetic standards sacrificed to box office profits. Even Chinese audiences found it boring to wait for the release of great American movies dubbed in their native language.

Role of women

Main article:Women in film

Meryl Streepis cited as one of the most influential women in Hollywood andKatharine Hepburnreceived four Academy Awards for Best Actress—a record for any performer.

Women are statistically underrepresented in creative positions in the center of the US film industry, Hollywood. This underrepresentation has been called the "celluloid ceiling",a variant on theemployment discriminationterm "glass ceiling".In 2013, the" top-paid actors... made2+1⁄2times as much money as the top-paid actresses. ""[O]lder [male] actors make more than their female equals" in age, with "female movie stars mak[ing] the most money on average per film at age 34 while male stars earn the most at 51."

The 2013 Celluloid Ceiling Report conducted by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film atSan Diego State Universitycollected a list of statistics gathered from "2,813 individuals employed by the 250 top domestic grossing films of 2012."

Women accounted for:

• "18% of all directors, executive producers, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors. This reflected no change from 2011 and only a 1% increase from 1998."
• "9% of all directors."
• "15% of writers."
• "25% of all producers."
• "20% of all editors."
• "2% of all cinematographers."
• "38% of films employed 0 or 1 woman in the roles considered, 23% employed 2 women, 28% employed 3 to 5 women, and 10% employed 6 to 9 women."

ANew York Timesarticle stated that only 15% of the top films in 2013 had women for a lead acting role.The author of the study noted that "The percentage of female speaking roles has not increased much since the 1940s when they hovered around 25 percent to 28 percent." "Since 1998, women's representation in behind-the-scenes roles other than directing has gone up just 1 percent." Women "directed the same percent of the 250 top-grossing films in 2012 (9 percent) as they did in 1998."

Race and ethnicity

Main articles:African-American representation in Hollywood,Representation of African Americans in media,Portrayal of East Asians in Hollywood,Portrayal of Native Americans in film,Portrayal of Arabs in film,White savior narrative in film,Whitewashing in film,Chicano films,Racism in early American film,andRacism in horror films

Michael Peñawas master-of-ceremonies at the induction of theFarm Worker Movementinto theLabor Hall of Fameand dedication of the Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Auditorium at theU.S. Department of Laborin March 2012. During the time, he was cast for the filmCesar Chavez.

On May 10, 2021,NBCannounced that it would not televise the79th Golden Globe Awardsin 2022 in support of a boycott of theHollywood Foreign Press Association(HFPA) by multiple media companies over inadequate efforts to addresslack of diversitywithin the membership of the association withpeople of color,but that it would be open to televise the ceremony in 2023 if the HFPA were successful in its efforts to reform.The HFPA would be disbanded two years later as a result of this and other scandals.

American cinema has often reflected and propagated negativestereotypestowards foreign nationals and ethnic minorities.For example,RussiansandRussian Americansare usually portrayed as brutal mobsters, ruthless agents and villains.According to Russian American professorNina L. Khrushcheva,"You can't even turn the TV on and go to the movies without reference to Russians as horrible."ItaliansandItalian Americansare usually associated with organized crime and theAmerican Mafia.Hispanic and Latino Americansare largely depicted as sexualized figures such as the Latinomachoor the Latinavixen,gangmembers, (illegal)immigrants,orentertainers.However, representation in Hollywood has improved in recent years, gaining traction in the 1990s, and no longer emphasizes oppression, exploitation, or resistance as primary themes. According to Charles Ramírez Berg, third wave films "do not accentuateChicanooppression or resistance; ethnicity in these films exists as one fact of several that shape characters' lives and stamps their personalities. "Filmmakers likeEdward James OlmosandRobert Rodriguezwere able to represent the Hispanic and Latino American experience like none had on screen before, and actors likeHilary Swank,Jordana Brewster,Jessica Alba,Camilla Belle,Al Madrigal,Alexis Bledel,Sofía Vergara,Ana de Armas,andRachel Zeglerhave become successful. In the last decade, minority filmmakers likeChris Weitz,Alfonso Gomez-Rejon,andPatricia Riggenhave been given appliernarratives. Films that portray Hispanic and Latino Americans includeLa Bamba(1987),Selena(1997),The Mask of Zorro(1998),Goal II(2007),Overboard(2018),Father of the Bride(2022), andJosefina López'sReal Women Have Curves,originallya playwhich premiered in 1990 and was later released as a film in 2002.

Pro-Palestinian protest inLos Angelesagainst thewar in Gazaand Hollywood's role indehumanizing Muslimsin November 2023

African-American representation in Hollywoodimproved drastically towards the end of the 20th century after the fall of the studio system and that trend endures in the 21st century as minority representation continues to increase.In old Hollywood, it was not uncommon forwhite actors to wear black face.In the 2016 filmMoonlight,masculinity is portrayed as rigid and aggressive, as seen in the behavior of young black males in Chiron's teenage peer group.The expression ofhyper-masculinityamong black men has been associated with peer acceptance and community.Being agayman in the black community, on the other hand, has been associated with social alienation and homophobic judgement by peers. In the film, Chiron is placed in this divide as a black gay man and alters his presentation of masculinity as a strategy to avoid ridicule because homosexuality is viewed as incompatible with black masculine expectations. As young kids, Kevin hides his sexuality in order to avoid being singled out like Chiron is. As Chiron grows older, he recognizes the need to conform to a heteronormative ideal of black masculinity in order to avoid abuse andhomophobia.As an adult, Chiron chooses to embrace the stereotypical black male gender performance by becoming muscular and a drug dealer.

Crossroads of the World

According toKorean AmericanactorDaniel Dae Kim,Asian andAsian Americanmen "have been portrayed as inscrutable villains and asexualized kind of eunuchs."The Media Action Network for Asian Americans accused the director and studio ofAlohaofwhitewashingthe cast of the film, and the director, Cameron Crowe, apologized aboutEmma Stonebeing miscast as a character who is meant to be of one quarterChineseand one quarterHawaiiandescent.Throughout the 20th century, acting roles in film were relatively few, and many available roles were narrow characters. In the 21st century, young Asian American comedians and filmmakers have found an outlet onYouTubeallowing them to gain a strong and loyal fanbase among their fellow Asian Americans.Although more recently the filmCrazy Rich Asianshas been lauded in the United States for featuring a predominantly Asian cast,it was criticized elsewhere for castingbiracialand non-Chinese actors as ethnically Chinese characters. The filmAlways Be My Maybewas lauded for taking familiar rom-com beats and cleverly layering in smart social commentary.

Before theSeptember 11 attacks,ArabsandArab Americanswere often portrayed asterrorists.The decision to hireNaomi Scott,the daughter of anEnglishfather and aGujaratiUgandan-Indianmother, to play the lead ofJasminein the filmAladdinalso drew criticism as well as accusations ofcolorism,as some commentators expected the role to go to an actress of Arab or Middle Eastern origin.In January 2018, it was reported that white extras were being applied brown make-up during filming in order to "blend in", which caused an outcry and condemnation among fans and critics, branding the practice as "an insult to the whole industry" while accusing the producers of not recruiting people with Middle Eastern or North African heritage. Disney responded to the controversy saying, "Diversity of our cast and background performers was a requirement and only in a handful of instances when it was a matter of specialty skills, safety and control (special effects rigs, stunt performers and handling of animals) were crew made up to blend in."

Working conditions

See also:List of Hollywood strikes

TheNew Beverly Cinemaknown for showcasing a diverse range of movies from various genres and eras. The theater retained its vintage charm, featuring 35mm film projections and maintaining an old-school moviegoing experience.

Hollywood's work flow is unique in that much of its work force does not report to the same factory each day, nor follow the same routine from day to day, but films at distant locations around the world, with a schedule dictated by the scenes being filmed rather than what makes the most sense for productivity. For instance, an urban film shot entirely on location at night would require the bulk of its crews to work a graveyard shift, while a situational comedy series that shoots primarily on stage with only one or two days a week on location would follow a more traditional work schedule. Westerns are often shot in desert locations far from the homes of the crew in areas with limited hotels that necessitate long drives before and after a shooting day, which take advantage of as many hours of sunlight available, ultimately requiring workers to put in 16 or 17 hours a day from the time they leave their home to the time they return.

While the role of labor in America has waned in many parts of the country, theunionshave maintained a firm grip in Hollywood since their start duringGreat Depressionwhen workers would line up outside the thriving movie studios looking for the only job in town. Terrible conditions awaited those workers as the studios exploited the eager workforce with meager pay and the ever present threat of the hundreds of others waiting just outside the gates to take their place if they voiced any complaints.

Due to thecasualnature of employment in Hollywood, it is only throughcollective bargainingcan individual workers express their rights to minimum wage guarantees and access to pension and health plans that carry over from film to film or TV series to TV series, and offer the studios access to a trained workforce able to step onto a set on day one with the knowledge and experience to handle the highly technical equipment they are asked to operate.

The majority of the workers in Hollywood are represented by several unions and guilds. The 150,000 member-strongInternational Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees(IATSE) represents most of thecrafts,such as the grips, electricians, and camera people, as well as editors, sound engineers, and hair & make-up artists. TheScreen Actors Guild(SAG) is the next largest group representing some 130,000 actors and performers, theDirectors Guild of America(DGA) represents the directors and production managers, theWriters Guild of America(WGA) representing writers, and theInternational Brotherhood of Teamsters(IBT) represents the drivers.

The unions and guilds serve as thecollective bargainingunit for their membership, negotiating on regular intervals (most currently on 3 year contracts) with theAlliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers(AMPTP), a trade alliance representing the film studios and television networks that hire the crews to create their content.

While the relationship between labor and management has generally been amicable over the years, working together with the state to develop safe protocols to continue working duringCOVID-19and lobbying together in favor oftax incentives,contract negotiations have been known to get contentious over changes in the industry and as a response to risingincome inequality.The relationship even turnedbloodyin 1945 as a six-month strike by set decorators turned into a bloody melee on a sweltering October day between strikers, scabs, strikebreakers, and studio security.

See also

• African American cinema
• Category:Documentary films about Hollywood, Los Angeles
• Category:Documentary films about the cinema of the United States
• Category:Films about Hollywood, Los Angeles
• Lists of American films
• American comedy films
• American Film Institute
• History of animation in the United States
• List of films in the public domain in the United States
• Motion Picture Association of America film rating system
• National Film Registry

General

• List of cinema of the world
• Photography in the United States of America
  • Cinema of North America

Notes

• Earley, Steven C. (1978).An Introduction to American Movies.New American Library.
• Fraser, George McDonald(1988).The Hollywood History of the World, from One Million Years B.C. to 'Apocalypse Now'.London: M. Joseph; "First US ed.", New York: Beech Tree Books. Both eds. collate thus: xix, 268 p., amply ill. (b&w photos).ISBN0-7181-2997-0(U.K. ed.), 0-688-07520-7 (US ed.).
• Gabler, Neal(1988).An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood.Crown.ISBN0-385-26557-3.
• Scott, A. J. (2000).The Cultural Economy of Cities.London: Sage Publications.ISBN0-7619-5455-4.

Further reading

• Hallett, Hilary A.Go West, Young Women! The Rise of Early Hollywood.Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2013.
• May, Lary (1983).Screening Out the Past: The Birth of Mass Culture and the Motion Picture Industry.University of Chicago Press.ISBN9780226511733.
• Ragan, David.Who's Who in Hollywood, 1900–1976.New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House, 1976.

External links

• Doanh thu phim Mai của Trấn ThànhtrênBox Office Vietnam
• Media related toCinema of the United Statesat Wikimedia Commons