My answer to the question of US dominance is quite simple.  When the American
film industry started, the country was a nation of so many immigrants who did
not understand English very well that only one formula would work--action
films with a minimum of dialog.  Having established the genre to make money
with a diverse American audience, the same formula applies to the rest of the
world.  Hollywood's technical professionalism of action films has remained
one leg up on all others.
Aloha,
Michael Haas
University of Hawai`i at Manoa
 
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