In just eight years, from 1922 to 1930, weekly U.S. movie attendance soared from about forty percent to over ninety percent of the population. 1 As movies came to center the mass-culture universe, two major questions came to the fore: one cultural, one technological.
How many Americans went to the movies in the 1920s?
During the 1920s, movie attendance soared. By the middle of the decade, 50 million people a week went to the movies - the equivalent of half the nation's population.
Cinema became the main form of popular entertainment. Ticket sales went from 40 million per week in 1920 to 100 million in 1930. People went several times a week, and long queues outside were normal.
How many people attended the movies per week in the 1920s?
Cinema was a very popular form of entertainment during this period and audiences continued to grow through the 1920s. In 1927 60 million people a week went to the cinema, but by 1929 it was 110 million people a week.
What percent of Americans visited a movie theater every week by the end of the 1920s?
By the end of the 1920s, there were radios in more than 12 million households. People also went to the movies. Historians estimate that, by the end of the decade, three-quarters of the American population visited a movie theater every week.
How many Americans went to the movies every week by 1930?
Even at the Depression's depths 60 to 80 million Americans attended the movies each week, and, in the face of doubt and despair, films helped sustain national morale. Although the movie industry considered itself Depression- proof, Hollywood was no more immune from the Depression's effects than any other industry.
In 1930 (the earliest year from which accurate and credible data exists), weekly cinema attendance was 80 million people, approximately 65% of the resident U.S. population (Koszarski 25, Finler 288, U.S. Statistical Abstract).
How many people did go to the movies a week in 1940?
The association made sure the good guys always won, sexuality was suggested rather than mentioned openly, and social issues were not debated. The strict censorship in Hollywood was meant to protect the nearly eighty million Americans who went to the movies each week.
How many people did go to the movies a week in 1940 in the US?
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.
In the 1920s, the silent films of this era were entering their golden years, and no other name would become more synonymous with that time period than that of Charlie Chaplin. Born to a family of entertainers, Chaplin would go on to make his grand entrance to the stage at the young age of five years old.
How many people went to the movies during the Depression?
60-90 million people went to the movies every week during the Depression, making in one of America's greatest past times. The average movie ticket price during this period was 25 cents, but Americans were willing to spend the money.
Why did we decide 90-120 minutes is ideal for a movie, 75 minutes is too short, and 180 minutes is too long? 75 minute movies were more common back in the days when double features were the rule, not the exception, basically from 1920 to 1940.
How did the popularity of movies grow in the 1920s?
The increased prosperity of the 1920s gave many Americans more disposable income to spend on entertainment. As the popularity of “moving pictures” grew in the early part of the decade, “movie palaces,” capable of seating thousands, sprang up in major cities.
Movies were fun. They provided a change from the day-to-day troubles of life. They also were an important social force. Young Americans tried to copy what they saw in the movies.
Aside from some films shot in the Movietone process in the late 1920s and early 1930s (where the picture aspect ratio narrowed to 1.19:1 to accommodate the optical soundtrack) and a handful of widescreen experiments, 1.33:1 remained universal until the early sound era, and 1.37:1 thereafter (the latter generally known ...
By the middle of the 1930s some 18 million people a week in Britain went to the cinema and it was undoubtedly the most popular commercial leisure time activity of the decade.
The Roaring 20s introduced us to the magic of silent films, the Golden Age showcased Hollywood's star power, the 1970s revolutionized storytelling, and the 1980s and 1990s brought us larger-than-life blockbusters. The modern era continues to push boundaries and explore new frontiers.
The most widely quoted source, the U.S. Census Bureau, shows that weekly attendance dropped from 80 million in 1940 and 90 million in 1946 to 60 million in 1950 and 40 million in 1960.
Back in the Golden Age of the cinema (1930-1945), most Americans went to the movie theater every week. In the early 1940s households averaged over two trips to the movie theater per week.
Was there a general decline in movie attendance after ww2?
The film industry changed radically after World War II, and this change altered the style and content of the films made in Hollywood. After experiencing boom years from 1939 to 1946, the film industry began a long period of decline. Within just seven years, attendance and box receipts fell to half their 1946 levels.
Why did so many Americans go to the movies during the Great Depression?
The Great Depression was a largely successful decade for Hollywood. Tickets on average cost under a quarter for the whole of the 1930s, down from 35 cents in 1929, so spending time in the cinema was an affordable form of escapism for many.
