Film Weekly Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry (1954)

SURVEY IN the past year the Canadian motion picture industry continued its lively expansion, particularly in the drivein field, although smaller neighbor¬ hood theatres experienced bad times and a number closed. The spread of televi¬ sion, reducing district audiences, and the inability of the exhibitor to lower his price because of the provincial amuse¬ ment tax, are the main factors. Canada will have more than 20 TV stations by the end of the year, so that many more operators of small theatres in neighbor¬ hoods or small towns have trouble ahead. Third dimension, which appeared sud¬ denly and helped business, ended as a boxoffice factor. Once the novelty wore off the public was unwilling to wear the spectacles and a number of films made for 3-D were released in 2-D. Over two years ago Cinerama, a three-projector wide-screen method, was introduced and caused a sensation, no doubt inspiring the other enlarged presen¬ tations. It is being exhibited on a two-aday policy at prices higher than usually charged for movies. More than a dozen USA cities have Cinerama showings and it is about to be displayed abroad but Canada has not yet seen it. The great boxoffice stimulant was CinemaScope, originated by Twentieth Century-Fox and used by other compa¬ nies, which drew crowds at higher-thanusual prices in first runs. Hundreds of Canadian exhibitors have changed their standard screens for ones wide enough to take CinemaScope. Paramount intro¬ duced its VistaVision, a wide-screen process of greater aspect ratio than Cine¬ maScope. No doubt the battle of the wide-screen will be resolved into stan¬ dardization, as will the use of stereo¬ phonic and directional sound. During the year one important fran¬ chise changed hands, that of Allied Artists, which was formerly held by J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors (Canada) Limited and is now controlled by In¬ ternational Film Distributors Limited. Soon after the Rank firm took over the distribution of the product of Cardinal Films, which includes important Holly¬ wood pictures, with Cardinal stating that “The entity of Cardinal Films Limit¬ ed, as such, will not be disturbed by this association, nor will the product be handled. Also Columbia Pictures of the USA bought 50 per cent of Columbia Pictures of Canada Limited, which holds its franchise. Immigration, which has added 1,100,000 persons to Canada since the war, continues as a source of strength to theatres. The effect of immigration on distribution was shown in the annual report of the Ontario censorship board: non-English films from ten countries jumped to 109 in the fiscal year from 59 in the previous period. Feature production remained dead in Canada, although commercial, industrial and educational short films increased in number. Commercials for TV have in¬ creased the value of the raw stock market. From 1940, when 1,229 “regular” theatres got $37,858,955 from 151,590,799 admissions, to 1944, when 1,298 situations yielded $53,173,325 for 208,167,180 tickets, receipts went up by 40 per cent and admissions by 37 per cent. This gain, of course, took place during the wartime boom that grew out of general employment, gasoline ration¬ ing and other travelling curbs. What kind of a year will 1954 be financially? Prob¬ ably greater than even the record years just past. Roadshows attractions, led by CinemaScope, are up and getting the highest movie prices in Canadian history. Other information can be found in the introduction to each section of the Year Book. 31