Film Weekly 1956-57 year book : Canadian motion picture industry (1956)

than in 1953. The total decline in admis¬ sions of all types of halls and theatres in 1954 compared with 1953 was 22,081,943. So that the brunt of the decline was borne by these theatres. This brings us to the drive-ins and their place in the accommodation pic¬ ture. They also contributed to the ex¬ pansion of our patronage capacity by jumping from 174 in 1953 to 230 in 1954, a gain of 56, thus adding accommodation for 18,795 cars. The drive-ins, playing to 12,380,248 admissions, helped limit the general attendance decline by gaining 1,245,458 over the previous year. For seat-tax purposes drive-ins are usually treated as two-and-a-half per¬ sons per car, so that about 50,000 seats were added to the 6,745 of the “Regular” theatres for a total gain of perhaps 56,000. There is one puzzling aspect of the 6,745-seat gain for 32 “Regular” thea¬ tres. That’s an average of 210 seats. There are very few 210-seat houses built, so perhaps the many houses al¬ tered in the last year added or dropped seats, affecting the figure. If you have read this far, you are probably curious about the situation in 1955. DBS figures won’t be available until late in 1956. But the accommodation gain will continue, even if business keeps declining, for Canadian Film Weekly figures show that in 1955 35 fourwalled theatres and 21 drive-ins opened for business. CONSTRUCTION THE Canadian motion picture theatre industry’s record of constructing new theatres in the last decade is a remarkable one, for 40 per cent of our present situa¬ tions, according to Canadian Film Weekly records, were built from the beginning of 1946. Added to this activity was another which contributed to giving the industry a bright new face — refurbishing. In some cases individual expenditures reached well over $100,000 and the overall total for al¬ terations and new equipment runs into millions. Since the beginning of 1946 there have been 920 movie situations constructed in Canada! This is a sizeable portion of the present number of places of 35 mm. exhi¬ bition — 2,121. Perhaps a table of new theatres each year would give the picture clearly: 1946 28, including >» 3 Drive 1947 109, 4 1948 . 75, »» 7 1949 128, y y 20 1950 . 147, y 1 30 1951 79, yy 18 1952 . 74, y y 22 1953 133, yy 70 1954 . 91, y y 56 854 y y 230 1955 56 yy 21 920 ” 251 It should be remembered that some of the new theatres were built to replace old ones or those destroyed by fire. Thus they did not add a situation to the Canadian total. The above figures do not include some built as 16 mm. theatres. There is no doubt that the figures given in the table are not exact, for this information, as na¬ tional executives will tell you, isn’t as easy to gather as it ought to be. But the figures are close enough. It seems strange to some that while theatres were closing, mainly because of TV, others were opening. The reason is that many communities, formerly served by 16 mm. in halls, picked up enough population through the immigration wave or the coming of industries to them to support a 35 mm. theatre. Also drive-ins were being established. The theatres that closed were largely urban and old, the ones that opened are in smaller commu¬ nities. The 1954 statement of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics said: “The number of theatres and hall ex¬ hibiting motion pictures fell by 83 in 1954. The greatest change occurred in the number of halls serviced by itinerant operators. There were 147 fewer of these in 1954 than in 1953. Community enter¬ prises fell by 24. Regular theatres in¬ creased in number by 32 and drive-in theatres increased by 56.” Community enterprises, like halls, are almost all serviced with 16 mm. Regular theatres are almost all 35 mm. as are drive-ins. In spite of the depressed state of the theatre industry at this time, the building of the new movie houses is evidence that the film as audience entertainment is here to stay. 46