|  Each year, more movies are produced in India, where the moving image industry is referred to as Bollywood, than in Hollywood. About 1000 movies are released annually in India, about twice the output of Hollywood. The "B" in Bollywood refers to Bombai (renamed Mumbai).
Bollywood movies often are quite long; 3 hours or more of dancing and singing around love as the main plot - although kissing is almost never shown on screen. Everyday, some 14 million Indian people queu for a movie, with more than 4 billion movie tickets sold annually, compared to 3 billion for Hollywood movies worldwide.
Before Bollywood
The first movie screened publicly was "La Sortie des Ouvriers de l'Usine Lumière" which was presented by Auguste and Louis Lumiere in Paris in 1895. The first movie to use sound was "The Jazz Singer," released in 1927: the first words, spoken by Al Jolson, were: "Wait a minute, you ain't heard nothing yet."
According to the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), in 1996 the average Hollywood film cost $35.3 million to make and another $17.7 million to market. Disney's "The Lion King" cost $45 million to make and employed a total of 800 animators. Bollywood flicks are produced at average $2m.
The most expensive film ever made as at year 2000, was James Cameron's "Titanic." It cost $200 million, but also was the most successful, in the sense that it won 11 Academy Awards, equalling "Ben Hur" of 1959.
The top five moneymaking films of all time are: "Titanic" [$1,835m], Jurassic Park" [$920m], Independence Day" [$810m], "Star Wars" [$780m], "The Lion King" [$767m]. Notice that they all are family-type movies. In fact, movies with strong sexual or violence content usually bomb at the box office. According to the American Family Association, the average cost to produce a movie in 1996 was $40 million. Sex films grossed on average only $700 000. Movies with strong Christian or family content each grossed over $37 million.
"Frankly my dear..."
"Gone With The Wind has been the best-attended film since its release in 1939. Without a doubt the most famous line in the movie is when Rhett Butler tells Scarlet O'Hara, "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn." According to "Curse Control", a book by James O'Connor, director David Selznick was fined heavy for that curse word: $5,000. A lot of money in those days. The movie is based on the book by Margaret Mitchell. It was the only book she wrote.
|
