this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2025
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B Movie Bonanza
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To be a stickler, BTILC is maybe considered culturally a B-movie today that the term has lost its meaning, but the budget and marketing was a typical A-lister back in the day. It was the headliner in theatres worldwide. I remember it showing in the main salon in cinema multiplexes here in Sweden. That simply didn't happen with American B-movies at the time unless it was something truly spectacular.
Yep. The A/B/C/Z refers to the budget of the production. A B-movie had lower budget and lower priority from the studio. They were fillers or jokers or opportunities for up and coming directors and actors and crew to prove themselves for future A-budget productions.
Added footnote.
Double features were a big deal back in the day. Many theaters only ran double bills, and the studios would re-release particular double bills ["Bonnie and Clyde" and "Bullit" ran together]
The B movie was the second movie, like the B side of a 45 rpm record was the less popular song.
Lower budget, actors who weren't as famous, those made a movie a B.
Someone in the watch party said their local cinema in 1986 showed BTiLC and Highlander (also from 20th Century Fox) in a double bill all summer, didn't say which came second.
Things were a lot different before video tape changed the game. There was a theater in Atlanta that ran Gone With The Wind for decades. Another big difference is that there used to be many, many more theaters with one owner. There were all sorts of deals being made between the distributors, the studios, and the theater owners.