ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an overview of the industry's evolution—its organizational structure, marketing and distribution practices, alleged antitrust trans-gressions, responses to forced dissolution, and contemporary economic performance. Industry studies provide an opportunity to broaden our understanding of economic practices. The movie industry traditionally operates at three levels: production—the financing, development, and making of motion pictures; distribution—the licensing, distribution, and promotion of movies; and exhibition—the screening of movies. At the inception of the industry, manufacturers of motion picture cameras and projectors produced the movies, for in order to sell their equipment they had to supply movies. Few industries have been subject to more antitrust lawsuits than the motion picture industry. The rise of new technologies in delivering movies has drastically altered distribution channels. The industry's structure and conduct were drastically altered through antitrust action, putting an end to the vertical integration of distributors into theaters, formal exclusive dealing arrangements, and numerous other distribution practices.
