The Hollywood Film Industry.

The influential history leading to contemporary Hollywood cinema and the contributions to its success.

Hollywood for a long time has globally dominated the film industry. The question asked is what made Hollywood cinema what it is today with films like, Jurassic Park (1993, Steven Spielberg) and Jaws (1975, Steven Spielberg), both being high grossing major motion pictures and hold significance in film history with the latter being claimed to mark the arrival of the ‘New Hollywood’. The answer dates back through Hollywood’s history.

It started with ‘The Classical Era’ which was a time of huge technological advancement in film and sparked aspiring filmmakers to push into new creative territory, leading to the creation of The Great Train Robbery by Edwin S. Porter in 1903.

The film industry developed and thrived by the 1920’s and cinema brought in real money made by production, distribution and exhibition. The strategic merges during this time resulted in ‘The Major’s’ of film distributors.

The Big 5

·      Paramount

·      RKO

·      Warner Bros.

·      Loews Inc.

·      Fox

The Little three

·      Columbia

·      Universal

·      United artists

American cinema dominated 70% of screens by the end of the 20’s and birthed the ‘Golden Age’ of cinema with thousands of films being issued from Hollywood studios until the early 1960’s. This ended with decline in production caused by the rise in television, Hollywood then adapted by making films for television.

The late 60’s brought ‘The Birth of New Hollywood’ and the production of Jaws (1975, Steven Spielberg), which redefined the nature, scope and profit potential of the blockbuster movie, and which ultimately laid the foundations for the films and filmmaking practices proceeding it in the future.

Jaws was made for less than 9 million US dollars and went on to make over 470 million in global return, including 260 million in domestic intake. The determination of the success of a motion picture is partly based on the marketing along with the film itself. Jaws was reinforced by a modern, forward-thinking campaign of a poster showing the huge shark rising through the water towards an unsuspecting swimmer. It also had a now-famous score called ‘Jaws theme’ by John Williams exploited by the radio and TV ads. These two combined was a scene then seen in the film.

The film had pathed the way for film marketing in Hollywood, some years later in 1993 Spielberg directed Jurassic Park, this film was marketed similarly with over 1000 products made and plastered with the logo, which was the spine of the marketing programme. They even had a Mcdonald’s meal made up of a value triple cheeseburger, ‘dino-sized fries’ and one of six 32 ounce collectors cups. These strategic marketing methods were used in the later adaption in the series, Jurassic world: Fallen Kingdom (2018, J.A. Bayona), by placing a life-sized T-rex in high foot-count locations globally.  All were supported by its own acclaimed score.



The marketing methods and other contributing factors of its ancestry has made contemporary Hollywood cinema successful and has helped influence the US film industry to become, as of 2017, a $43 billion industry. 


Work Referenced -  Jim Collins, Hilary Radner, and Ava Preacher Collins. (1993) Film Theory Goes to the Movies,  The New Hollywood: Thomas Schatz.