![]() Studios in the minor leagues of the industry, such as Columbia Pictures and Film Booking Offices of America (FBO), focused on exactly those sorts of cheap productions. These cheaper films (not yet called B movies) allowed the studios to derive maximum value from facilities and contracted staff in between a studio's more important productions, while also breaking in new personnel. That average reflected both "specials" that might cost as much as $1 million and films made quickly for around $50,000. ![]() ![]() In 1927–28, at the end of the silent era, the production cost of an average feature from a major Hollywood studio ranged from $190,000 at Fox to $275,000 at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Soon, director Frank Capra's association with Columbia helped vault the studio toward Hollywood's major leagues. History Columbia's That Certain Thing (1928) was made for less than $20,000 (about $297,791 today). The terms "B actor and actress" are sometimes used to refer to performers who find work primarily or exclusively in B pictures. Some actors and actresses, such as Bela Lugosi, Eddie Constantine, Bruce Campbell, and Pam Grier, worked in B movies for most of their careers. They are where actors such as John Wayne and Jack Nicholson first became established, and they have provided work for former A movie actors and actresses, such as Vincent Price and Karen Black. Celebrated filmmakers such as Anthony Mann and Jonathan Demme learned their craft in B movies. The term is also now used loosely to refer to some higher-budget, mainstream films with exploitation-style content, usually in genres traditionally associated with the B movie.įrom their beginnings to the present day, B movies have provided opportunities both for those coming up in the profession and others whose careers are waning. In its current usage, the term has somewhat contradictory connotations: it may signal an opinion that a certain movie is (a) a "genre film" with minimal artistic ambitions or (b) a lively, energetic film uninhibited by the constraints imposed on more expensive projects and unburdened by the conventions of putatively serious independent film. As the average running time of top-of-the-line films increased, so did that of B pictures. Latter-day B movies still sometimes inspire multiple sequels, but series are less common. The term connoted a general perception that B movies were inferior to the more lavishly budgeted headliners individual B films were often ignored by critics. Almost always shorter than the top-billed feature films, many had running times of 70 minutes or less. Early B movies were often part of series in which the star repeatedly played the same character. In either usage, most B movies represent a particular genre the Western was a Golden Age B movie staple, while low-budget science-fiction and horror films became more popular in the 1950s. This evolution highlights how the concept of B movies has adapted and persisted in the ever-changing landscape of the film industry. In post-Golden Age usage, B movies can encompass a wide spectrum of films, ranging from sensationalistic exploitation films to independent arthouse productions. Today, the term "B movie" is used in a broader sense. These divisions continued to create content similar to B movies, albeit in the form of low-budget films and series. This shift was due to the rise of commercial television, which prompted film studio B movie production departments to transition into television film production divisions. However, the production of such films as "second features" in the United States largely declined by the end of the 1950s. ![]() Originally, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second half of a double feature, somewhat similar to B-sides in the world of recorded music. Vincent Price headlines a cast of veteran character actors along with a young Jack Nicholson.Ī B movie, or B film, is a type of low-budget commercial motion picture. The "King of the Bs", Roger Corman, produced and directed The Raven (1963) for American International Pictures.
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