"As Pretty a Piece of Price Fixing as I Ever Saw": Prerelease Engagements and the Circumvention of the Paramount Consent Decrees

Abstract

ABSTRACT:Despite hopes for a more equitable cinematic marketplace after the 1948 Paramount decision, the studios quickly developed new methods of dominating exhibition. One technique, the prerelease engagement, created an unofficial first run at higher prices before a film's official release. The Department of Justice's disinterested response to exhibitor complaints demonstrated that it was no longer interested in policing the industry. Using the trade press and congressional testimony, this essay traces the history of the prerelease and exhibitors' unsuccessful attempts to block it—an early example of the decline of the Paramount decrees as a means to counter studio dominance.