During the 1950’s, the movie industry suffered several blows. Throughout the 1950’s, theater audiences dropped radically. Before World War II, Hollywood had produced an average of 550 films per year, but feel to only about 250 a year during the 1950’s. Year by year, the numbers fell. In 1950, 63 million people went to the movies, but by 1952, that number was down to 58 million (Layman 304). There were several reasons for the decline, and Hollywood tried various methods to bring back its audience.
    The main reason for the decline in the movie-viewing audience was the steadily increasing popularity of television. Suddenly, people were no longer had to go out to be entertained, but could sit back in the comfort of their own home, with a variety of options from which to choose (see Social Changes). Moviemakers, in order to lure the people away from the small black-and-white television, began producing many color films, and trying new techniques cinematic techniques such as Cinescope, Technicolor, and 3-D films.
    Another problem for the movie industry were the studios themselves. They were reeling from the effect of the 1948 Antitrust Act, in which the Supreme Court told the studios they had to sell their holdings in movie theaters, which meant that the studios couldn’t dictate what movies played in which theaters (Layman 304). In addition to the loss of theaters, another blow to the studios was the fact that more and more films were produced independently. By 1958, independent producers supplied 65% of the country’s movies (Karney 394). Independent movies were able to tackle more daring topics that mainstream movies wouldn’t. The studio movies also caught onto this trend, with such films as Vertigo, Baby Doll,A Streetcar Named Desire, Rebel Without A Cause, and The Moon Is Blue. The studios realized that by covering these more adult themes, they could draw in an audience that television didn’t target.
    Another result of the instability in the movie industry was a move from Hollywood to foreign countries, both for production and plot. It was much cheaper, and held a sense of exotic mystery with which television couldn’t compete. Two such movies are The African Queen and Roman Holiday, and there were numerous others that took advantage of the benefits overseas locations had to offer.
    One of the other challenges the movie industry faced during the 1950’s was far from the production lots. Joseph McCarthy, a senator, began to investigate communism in the United States. He targeted many figures in the entertainment business, causing disruption and fear. Many people involved in making movies were scared off by McCarthy, and others’ had their careers and lives ruined by vicious slander (see Foreign Affairs and Politics). The fear of being targeted by McCarthy stifled much creativity, as those who hadn’t been destroyed tried to stick to the basic genres and not call attention to themselves.
    All in all, the 1950’s were a turbulent time for movies. While some of the best American films came out of this decade, they lost their mass audience to television, the studio system began to crumble, and Hollywood was under attack politically as well.