Canadian Film Weekly Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry (1960)

The drop in expenditures was accom¬ panied by an even larger fall in the num¬ ber of paid admissions, which, at 146,484,000, reached the lowest level since the 1930’s. Admissions were down 6.5 per cent from 156,701,000 in 1957 and more than two-fifths below the 1952 record of 256,112,000. The next lowest attendance, which included patrons of community enterpris¬ es, not covered since 1956, was 137,899,000 in 1939. Number of regular motion picture the¬ atres declined in 1958 to 1,622 from 1,716 in the preceding year, receipts from ad¬ missions to $75,139,000 from $76,486,000, amusement taxes to $6,951,000 from $7,815,000, and number of paid admissions to 136,335,000 from 146,756,000. Record for admissions was 247,733,000 in 1952. Except for 1954 when a peak of $6,317,000 was reached, receipts of drive-in the¬ atres at $6,254,000 in 1958 were the highest on record. In 1957 the total was $5,725,000. Amusement taxes were $504,000 in 1958, $520,000 in 1957 and $722,000 in 1954. The number of paid admissions increased to 10,149,000 in 1958 from 9,946,000 in 1957 and compared with a peak total of 12,380,000 in 1954. Number of drive-in theatres in 1958 was 232 versus 229 in 1957. Revenue from sources other than sales of admission tickets to regular motion picture theatres in 1958 amounted to $11,954,000 ($12,097,000 in 1957), and included $11,121,000 from sales of candy, drinks, cigarettes, etc. ($11,315,000), $377,000 from the rental of concessions and vending ma¬ chines ($367,000), $76,600 from exhibiting commercial films ($73,600), and $380,000 from other sources ($342,000). Similar re¬ ceipts for drive-in theatres in 1958 total¬ led $2,784,000 ($2,498,000 in 1957), of which $2,640,000 was derived from sales of can¬ dy, drinks, cigarettes, etc. ($2,496,000 in 1957). SEATING IN 1959 Canada had 818,217 seats in its 1,524 35 mm. auditorium theatres, com¬ pared to 844,439 seats in 1,568 theatres in 1958, a decrease of 26,222 seats and 44 theatres, according to a Canadian Film Weekly survey. Drive-ins also lost ground in 1959, the 231 drive-ins with accommoda¬ tion for 89,132 cars showing a drop of nine situations and 3,291 car spaces from 240 and 92,423 of 1958. To get a picture of the effect of television on Canadian theatres a rough comparison can be made between 1953, when TV first made itself felt in this country, and the present by using the fig¬ ures issued on March 31, 1953 by the Can¬ adian Motion Picture Distributors Asso¬ ciation. At that date the CMPDA listed 1,924 35 mm. standard houses with 963,914 seats — greater than the Dec. 31, 1959 count by 400 theatres and 145,697 seats. Using these figures indoor cinema seat¬ ing declined by a little over 15 per cent in the seven years since Canada began its own TV production, while the number of theatres was reduced by 20 per cent. The discrepancy in the percentages is account¬ ed for by the fact that the majority of theatres eliminated were small ones with only a couple of hundred seats. The larg¬ er theatres, with the greater capacity, weren’t hit as hard. Before 1953 the aver¬ age seating capacity was figured at about 450 per theatre. Today it is about 540. Not included in the figures above are Canada’s legitimate houses and special auditoriums that occasionally play films. Of the former there were 10 with 13,592 seats, located in Toronto, Montreal, Otta¬ wa and London, and three of the latter with 6,825 seats. In order to get a clear view of the over¬ all effect on seating of the coming of TV to Canada it is necessary to include drivein accommodation. In 1953, the CMPDA states there were 104 drive-ins with a car capacity of 48,337 and 1,056 walk-in seats. For purposes of comparison, drive-in oper¬ ators and some Provincial governments consider one car space equivalent to 2 V2 seats. Using this formula the 1953 driveins had seats for 111,898. At the end of 1959 there were 231 drive-ins with 89,132 car spaces and 1,592 walk-in seats, for the equivalent of 224,422 seats. This consti¬ tutes a gain of 112,524. When this last figure is subtracted from the loss of seats in auditorium theatres — 145,697 — it makes the net loss 33,173. Of the 1,524 hardtops with 818,217 seats in Canada at the end of 1959, Ontario had 383 houses with 270,197 seats, Quebec 394 with 219,826, BC 125 with 76,960, Alta. 172 with 70,427, Sask. 184 with 58,919, Man. 116 with 50,335, NS 60 with 33,837, NB 53 with 24,902, Nfld. 22 with 8,501 and PEI 16 with 4,313. Canada’s 231 drive-ins and their car capacity of 89,312 were made up of Ont¬ ario’s 90 with 40,696 car spaces, Alta.’s 37 with 13,204, BC’s 31 with 10,073, Sask.’s 36 with 10,039, Man.’s 13 with 5,484, NB’s 13 with 5,070, NS’ eight with 3,316 and PEI’s three with 1,250. Que. bans driveins and Nfld. has none. 38