Changing audience

With films such as A Streetcar Named Desire (US, d. Elia Kazan, 1951), Hollywood tackled more controversial subjects, leading to the introduction of the X certificate (no persons under 16 years of age to be admitted), which was blamed in some quarters for destroying the habit of family visits to the cinema.

However, as in America, it was Britain's younger generation which increasingly formed the bulk of the audience, as teenagers had both the funds and the social incentive, while married couples with children and older people found it more convenient to watch television at home. Films like Rock Around the Clock (US, d. Fred F. Sears, 1956) were specifically aimed at the teenage audience.

The success of Cinerama with its huge screen (introduced to London in 1954) encouraged other cinemas to install large screens, so that expensive American productions such as Around the World in Eighty Days (d. Michael Anderson, 1956), South Pacific (d. Joshua Logan, 1958) and Ben Hur (d. William Wyler, 1959) could be given extended runs with separate performances at increased prices before eventually receiving a wider release at standard prices. South Pacific set a new record by running for nearly four and a half years in London.

By the mid-1960s, there were only enough mainstream films to provide weekly releases for two chains: ABC and Rank (combining Odeons and Gaumonts). Many large cinemas denied access to either of these product streams were forced to close for lack of suitable 'product'. Occasional attempts were made to play films for a fortnight or longer on general release but audiences, from habit, tended to flock to them in the first week.