The
success of films like GTR led to the rise of One Reelers. These were
short films (1000 feet/ 10 minutes) and were produced by the thousands.
By 1916 there were 21,000 movie theaters in the US, one movie screen for every 4,800 Americans. By the 1980s that had dropped to one screen for every 10,600 Americans. Today it is one screen for every 7,800...still far fewer than in 1916.
Next: Famous Studios
Going to the movie theater is no where near as popular today as it was in the American past. In 1948, roughly 90 million people went to see the movies each week. There were only about 147 million people in the US then. That implies that many went several times each week (which makes good sense in an era without TV and where movie theaters were most often air conditioned but homes were not). Ninety million a week means over 4.5 billion ticket sales per year. In 2024, total ticket sales for the United States and Canada were about 16 million per week, or 825 million per year, in a country with a population of about 340 million. This implies that most Americans go to the movie theatre rarely or not at all. This isn't surprising in an era with so many screens and sources of entertainment. However, it's good to remember that though the first three quarters of the 20th century, movies had an impact on culture in a way that they no longer do.