After 1980, many of the requested reforms were finally implemented, including a full-time president and a full-time lobbyist in Washington, as well as moving its headquarters from New York to Los Angeles by the end of the decade, NITE had folded back into NATO, leaving only one dominant organization. When the reforms stalled, the entire California and Illinois chapters pulled out in 1977, along with many small chains around the nation. The 1970s were difficult for NATO although the blockbuster The Godfather revitalized theater-going and revenue, in 1975 a new National Independent Theatre Exhibitors (NITE) came together to challenge NATO, eventually numbering almost a thousand theaters, and governance reforms were pushed by members as well. Finally, in 1966 TOA and Allied merged into the National Association of Theatre Owners, largely based on TOA's structure but headed by Marshall Fine, former Allied chairman. During the post-war period, theater revenue collapsed as television became widespread, even as film rental became more expensive, and thousands of theaters closed, particularly in city centers hard hit by suburban flight.
Īfter divestiture in the fallout of the 1948 Paramount decision, many formerly-affiliated theaters ended up joining either TOA or Allied. The merger went ahead in 1947, minus affiliates of Loews, RKO, and Warner Bros., and they became the Theater Owners of America (TOA) with about 10,000 theaters. A plan to merge with MPTOA, which strongly supported the studios, ran into friction, with many affiliated theaters leaving the ATA over its stance conversely Allied, the largest purely-independent group, refused to join over the presence of affiliates. Paramount Pictures, Inc., the antitrust case against all of the major studios. Unlike the others, the MPTOA embraced affiliated theaters, and soon became the largest organization.ĭuring World War II, many theaters joined the new War Activities Committee, after the war becoming the Theatre Activities Committee and soon American Theatre Association (ATA), which strongly supported United States v. In 1921, the first predecessor of NATO was founded, the largely affiliated Motion Picture Theater Owners of America (MPTOA), soon followed by the independent Allied States Association of Motion Picture Exhibitors (Allied), Unaffiliated Independent Motion Picture Exhibitors of America, National Independent Theatre Exhibitors, and more, to demand better pricing and access to first-runs. Studios soon contracted with each other to keep first-runs inside the affiliated network, using this access to coerce independents into selling out. By 1921, Paramount already owned 300 theaters, and other producers were catching up. Theaters banded together to bargain for better pricing, with 26 of the largest combining into First National Exhibitors Circuit-which went on to become a producer and distributor in its own right, before being bought by Warner Bros.
The largest producer, Famous Players-Lasky, joined and later merged with the largest distributor, Paramount (eventually becoming Paramount Pictures), and together they began block-booking in 1917, forcing theaters to buy mediocre films to get the good ones.
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As the motion picture industry became larger, movie production companies began consolidating and controlling distribution.