The System Breaks

The 1948 Paramount Decree forced studios to sell their theater chains, breaking vertical integration. Television siphoned audiences. The old moguls died or retired. By the late 1960s, the studio system had collapsed, opening the door for a new generation of filmmakers.

The New Hollywood directors of the 1970s — Coppola, Scorsese, Spielberg, Lucas — grew up watching European art cinema and wanted to make films with personal vision rather than studio formulas. They transformed Hollywood from a factory into a director's medium, at least temporarily.