Film Weekly 1961-62 year book : Canadian motion picture industry with television section (1961)

16 MILLIMETRE A CONTINUING decrease in 16 mm. theatrical income is indicated al¬ though the number of theatres remained fairly steady in 1959 and 1958, after a marked drop of 38 from 1957. A picture of any aspect of 16 mm. theatrical opera¬ tion other than total rentals earned is no longer available from the Dominion Bu¬ reau of Statistics, which stopped gather¬ ing information on Itinerant Operators and Community Enterprises in 1957. Re¬ quests for figures were so consistently ignored that the DBS called a halt and now only gathers information for what it calls “theatres.” In 1956, the DBS showed that there were 488 16 mm. exhibitors who took in $1,588,587 from 4,286,768 admissions and paid out $2,205,101 in rentals. Compar¬ isons with earlier statistics can be found in previous Year Books. The number of small-gauge theatres which operated in 1959 is 114, of which six were drive-ins. This is four more than in 1958, when there were five driveins. Some 16 mm. distributors expressed doubt that the figure had fallen that low. In 1956 there were 206 theatres. The leader in the 16 mm. theatre field in 1959 was Newfoundland, with 37, an increase of one. Ont. and Que. each had 16 theatres, Sask. 14, Man. 12, BC eight and Alta. five. BC had three of the smallgauge drive-ins, Alta, one and NS, which had no standard situations, had two. Besides Community Theatres, which are operated by local bodies presumably as non-profit enterprises, and Itinerant Operators, 16 mm. distributors also get income from institutions. Income from theatrical use of 16 mm. in 1959 was $1,548,484, a drop of $157,775 from 1958’s $1,706,259 and is estimated that it will not be much lower in 1960, even though there are fewer outlets. High¬ er prices are a factor in keeping rentals in a profitable area. In the following 10-year table of 16 mm. rentals, returns from TV are separated from 1955 on, as explained below, and the first rentals figures are the totals, in each case, of the combined theatrical and non-theatrical yield. This last-named is the revenue from rentals to the Red Cross, the armed services, institutions, home users, etc., where no admissions are charged, and in 1957 this totalled $392,878, and in 1958 $393,966. 1950 . $1,713,813 1951 . _ . 1,889,461 1952* . 2,281,540 1953* . 2,411,244 1954* . 2,923,762 1955 . 2,400,733 1956 . 2,205,101 1957 . 2,198,745 1958 . 2,100,225 1959 . 1,918,949 '■(Television came to Canada in September, 1952 but only accounted for a minor share of the 16 mm rentals until 1955. For the three years marked with an asterisk above (1952-3-4) the DBS included the TV income in the totals but in the following years these were given separately and amounted to: TELEVISION RENTALS 1955 . $3,072,992 1956 . 4,550,178 1957 . 5,575,414 1958 . 6,336,346 1959 . 7,903,029) (This report is drawn from the official DBS report for 1959, the full 1960 report not having been issued yet. However, the DBS shows that as of Sept., 1961 there were 115 16 mm. theatres, six of which were drive-ins ) Associations CANADIAN FILM INSTITUTE 1762 Carling Ave., Ottawa, Ont. Honorary President His Excellency Major General George P. Vanier, DSO, MC, CD, Governor General of Canada. OFFICERS President . James A. Cowan Vice-President A. L. Hepworth Second Vice-President Gaudry Delisle Honorary Treasurer Lachlan F. MacRae Executive Director Charles Topshee Asst. Executive Director Roy Little DIRECTORS Dr. J. R. Kidd, Cowan, Hepworth, Delisle, Mac¬ Rae, Peter Cock, Dr. Lloyd Hampson, E. C. Bovey, Dr. A. E. Chatwin, Jean Clavel, Sir Arthur Elton, H. P. Brown, E. F. Holliday, L. W. Chatwin, C. B. French, Samuel L. Gagne, N. I. Wilson. SCIENTIFIC FILM DIVISION OF THE CANADIAN FILM INSTITUTE OFFICERS President Dr. Paul Larose 1294 Manor Rd., Rockcliffe, Ottawa) Vice-President D. A. R. Moffatt (National Film Board, Ottawa) CANADIAN FEDERATION OF FILM SOCIETIES FEDERATION CANADIENNE DES CINE CLUBS (A Division of the Canadian Film Institute) 166