During the McCarthy era, the House Committee on Un-American Activities took its communist witch hunt to Hollywood. More than 300 actors, writers, directors, and producers were branded red and found themselves unemployable, and some were even thrown in the clink. Those who named names saved their livelihoods, but tarnished their reputations. As for moviegoers, we lost a decade's worth of great films that might have been.

Anyone who has anything to do with movies lives and breathes in its shadow. The amount of money a movie earns in its opening weekend determines its life, and thus, the lives of everyone who works on it, starting with the executive who green-lights the project, so you know quality is not his biggest concern. What matters is what's marketable—the effective trailer, the prettiest faces to slap on a poster, the market-tested themes that draw an audience—so it's no wonder that a big chunk of the average studio movie's total budget goes to prints and advertising. No longer can smart movies hunker in at movie theaters, slowly developing an audience. This summer's unprecedented glut of huge openings—followed by precipitous drops—tells us that audiences are restless. So are we. Still, there's hope: Surprise hits like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Fahrenheit 9/11 do exist. And then there was The Passion of the Christ . . . Well, maybe a little tyranny isn't such a bad thing after all.

Zaz posted:

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In the 60's certain movies could run as long as a year.

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Nrf-Hrdr posted:

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No longer can smart movies hunker in at movie theaters, slowly developing an audience

Plenty of films still do this - limited releases is a common way of building momentum for more minor interest films through word of mouth. Just in the last year the strategy worked pretty well for No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood.

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