The Golden Age Ends

What caused the end of the golden age of Hollywood? What was so significant about this change in its history?

    The golden age of Hollywood ended because of the Supreme Court ruling in 1948 that made the Big 8 divest in movie theaters and end non-competitive practices. What was so significant about this change was that it opened the movie industry up to independent producers and exhibitors and changed the way that producers and exhibitors made money. Oftentimes, theaters have to give a huge percentage of ticket profits to the producer and theaters get gradually more of a percentage as time goes on (90-95% to producer week one, 80% week two, etc.) This also pushes producers to make movies that are more likely to be guaranteed box office hits, i.e., movies with less creativity and less unique choices like sequels and constant rehashing of similar tropes and ideas that "work." Another outcome of this was that theaters could no longer rely on ticket sales for income because of how small of a percentage they receive. Thus, the era very overpriced snacks were born (in the 1970s).