Hollywood in the Studio Era

The studio era was between the 1930s and the 1960s. The majority of movies between these times were produced by 8 main studios. 

The big five

Warner Bros

Paramount Pictures

RKO pictures

Marcus Loews of Loew's, Inc.

Fox film cooperation

The little three

Columbia Pictures

United Artists

Universal pictures

They made movies with their own creative teams and their own filmmaking lots, under long-term contracts. 

The studios used something called "vertical integration". This meant that the studios controlled distributors, and this gave them very high sales.

Paramount Pictures mostly made comedies.

Fox Films made crime and musicals.

Warner Bros made the first sound film, "the jazz singer".

RKO made horror and film noir.