During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the American film industry faced a crisis. Theater attendance plummeted, forcing thousands of venues to close. Major studios with their own theater chains were struggling to survive.This created a dilemma: theaters needed to keep ticket prices low while increasing the frequency of new releases. Only producing expensive movies was financially impossible given the audience's limited spending power.That’s where the B movie came in. Let’s learn more about it.What Is a B Movie? Originally, B movies were simply inexpensive features made to maintain a continuous flow of supply for the theatres along with A-list features. The aim was to pull in audiences with the top-value production and star cast in the A-list movies, while the B movies were made to keep work running throughout the year. Often referred to as “cheapies” and ”B-grade movies,” B movies formed the backbone of Hollywood back in the 1930s, with over 75% of films (around 4,000 films) made during that time considered to be under this category. Despite the lack of production value, some of them went on to be so popular that they even had a series of spin-off features after them. For instance, the Sherlock Holmes series by Universal had 12 films under its franchise, made between 1941 and 1946. The era of B movies started roughly around the early ‘30s and began to fade by the late ‘50s, after which big studios eventually sold their theatre chains, and larger studios absorbed the smaller B movie...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - 6 days ago