Canadian Film Digest Year Book (1971)

THE YEAR IN REVIEW In retrospect, the past twelve months have not been as prosperous for motion picture theatres, generally, in Canada, as could have been hoped for. We commonly attribute good business to the drawing power of certain attractions. On the other hand, when business is poor, we seek alibis. The first of these, of course, must be the state of our present ‘’push-pull’’ economy—to which one must, today, add the uncertainties of the new American 10% surtax. There are predictions that this tax will increase Our percentage of unemployed, which is already distressingly high. This must have an adverse effect at the box-office. We should not overlook, also, the enormous growth and use of colored TV sets. People without the resources to buy these, often rent them. In either case, they are spending dollars which might very well be used for other entertainment, such as visiting theatres. The number of real box-office hits in the past year has been disappointingly small. Last summer, returns at the box-office were not great, and this year is, if anything, worse. Summer is the time when distributors normally seek to release films of particular attraction to the younger folk. The assumption is that, since they are out of school, and have more available free time, they will attend theatres to see films of their liking. Unfortunately, most of the attractions designed for this purpose, have flopped this summer. The only real hits, in point of fact, have been those which appeal to adults rather than children. Even drive -in business, which is generally considered to have its ‘“‘big moment”’ at this season, has failed to measure up to previous years. It is becoming increasingly evident that distribution must find a different and more flexible releasing pattern. The idea of withholding release of the so-called “‘goodies’’ until the summer, no longer makes too much sense. This was discussed CANADIAN FILM DIGEST at some length in last month’s article. A number of new theatres were opened across the country in the past twelve months, many of them of the multiple auditorium variety. Most of these were projected two or three years ago. The number of planned projects being planned today for the near future has diminished considerably. The high cost of building and of money mitigates the gamble on the part of the exhibitor of hundreds of thousands of dollars in either construction or long term rental guarantees, for any one particular project. New theatre construction, in the future, will likely fall into the pattern which is rapidly developing in the United States; that of multi small seating clusters of auditoria, operated with automation and a minimum of overhead. On the production front, Canada would appear to have made enormous strides in the last twelve months. Under the aegis of the Canadian Film Development Corporation, it made a particularly strong presence felt at the Cannes Film Festival last May. There was no official entry, but approximately 30 films were shown out of competition at one of the local cinemas. A large delegation of Canadian producers, distributors and others interested in furthering Canadian feature films, attended the festival and most of them got their first taste of the “international buying and selling of films’’. There is along road to travel before it will be possible to command the same respect in feature film production which the National Film Board has earned in the documentary field, over a period of years. However, the stage has now been reached at which people outside of our country do not tend to dismiss Canadian feature film production out of hand. Slowly but surely a presence is being created in the rest of the world. The ultimate goal of a permanent and continuing feature film production industry is still a long way off. Greater progress could be made if there were more help from the government and in better ways than presently exists. However, no one can any longer deny the possibility and potentiality, in Canada, of aviable motion picture feature film production industry. Everybody concerned with our business must be interested, at all times, in what particular type of films people will pay to see. The public is nota monolith. Rather it Our Busmess M/A Taylor is a collection of segments, each of which has views and tastes of considerable variance. It is now trite to say that we are no longer catering to ‘’the masses’’. However, we must still be keenly aware that we are, indeed, catering to fragmented audiences; which is one of the very good reasons for small and multiple auditoria. If there are such things as trends in motion If there are such things as trends in motion pictures, we must understand that they can change rapidly. A time period of One or two years is not unusual between the conception of a motion picture idea and its ultimate showing to the public. Subsequently, what may have been a very good project on paper to begin with, may result in a dud at exhibition time. In the United States, today, leading circuits and independent exhibitors seem to want to shy away from films which are rated R and X by the MPAA. On the other hand, the track rating of those rated G and GP is not particularly good. Theatre owners and managers frequently receive complaints from disgruntled patrons who complain about the lack of family entertainment. Yet when attractions of this genre are presented, public response is generally lukewarm. The wave of permissiveness in motion pictures, which seems to have engulfed our industry in the last couple of years, seems to be receding. However, it still requires ‘“‘gutsy”’ content to interest a public which is becoming increasingly sophisticated and much more choosey. Word of mouth is still the best press agent in our business. It is important to get a good film launched in such manner, and in such theatre, that there is enough time for word of mouth to help do the selling. However, we will still always have films of lesser quality which can be sold to segments of the public by means of blitz exploitation campaigns. The coming year bodes a period of continuing change—perhaps on an even more accelerated basis than in the past. Notwithstanding, our business will continue to rest on the foundation of good production and good showmanship. There are many wrongs to be corrected and many adjustments to be made. The coming twelve months promises to be a very interesting period.