Originally Posted by
Macca
I've got a book called 'Blockbuster' by Tom Shone that goes into it all in detail.
In the 1960s studios concentrated on big production action films trying to offer something that television couldn't since TV was really hitting their profits. But it was hit and miss, and if they had a miss they lost money big time since the production was so expensive.
Then 'Easy Rider' was a huge hit despite costing pennies to make, so the studios started looking for similar scripts that would be cheap to make but would appeal to mass audiences. We got a lot of good films out of that period in the early 1970s.
Then along came 'Jaws' and 'Star Wars' and changed everything. If you made a big spectacle film with the right ingredients and promoted it well you could not only make a fortune but get a whole franchise out of it. So they lost interest in making low-key character-driven films.