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As far as American cinema is concerned, the sixties were in fact a transition period standing between the upheavals of the fifties caused by the Paramount decree as well as the arrival of television in US homes, and the near completion of Hollywood’s restructuring in the seventies. The paper shows that for the Hollywood Majors, the sixties represented the middle of that restructuring period when, faced with an ever-declining audience, the studios tried to keep their audience or at least to limit its decline by switching to another target audience. This however weakened them financially and made them prey to take-overs by big conglomerates, thus paving the way for a production system that has resulted in the present-day blockbusters.