Films in the 60's

1963 was the worst year for US film production in fifty years (there were only 121 feature releases). And the largest number of foreign films released in the US in any one year was in 1964 (there were 361 foreign releases in the US vs. 141 US releases).

With movie audiences declining due to the dominance of television, major

American film companies began to diversify with other forms of entertainment: records, publishing, TV movies and the production of TV series. For example:

• in July of 1961, TWA Airlines began the first regular in-flight movies in first-class during a NYC to LA flight, with a Bell and Howell projector aimed at a screen to show the glossy soap opera By Love Possessed (1961), starring Lana Turner
• in September of 1961, Saturday Night at the Movies premiered on NBC with the first wide-screen comedy, How to Marry a Millionaire (1953) - it marked the start of the trend to broadcast Hollywood movies on TV
• in 1965, Columbia released folk/rock singer Bob Dylan's album Highway 61 Revisited
• separate awards for Black and White and Color Cinematography were eliminated by AMPAS for 1967 (and after) films, because most films were being made in color

(Tim Dirks. The History of Films: The 1960's. Online. 9/19)

http://www.filmsite.org/60sintro.html