Canadian Film Digest Year Book (1976)

How’s the motion picture theatre business? an important question indeed. In these days, we must be concerned with the present recession. Business, this past year, has been quite good but it is still too early to predict that economic conditions will not prove harmful, There was an upturn, in business, in the United States last year, but we venture to say that the increase in Canada has been, comparatively, better. No more than a decade ago we were looking forward, with great anticipation, to the possibility of the motion picture theatres of Canada grossing in toto $100 million in one year. This last year we expect that, when the final figures are in, we shall have grossed twice that amount. We must, of course, take into account the factor of inflation. It is impossible, at this date, to have statistics on admission prices but it would seem safe to venture that they are the highest in the history of the motion picture theatre business. In evaluating our good fortune we must consider the boxoffice draw of the attractions we were able to offer. Unquestionably, ‘‘Jaws’’ was the outstanding grosser of the year. In point of fact, it has already been proven to be the greatest box-office champ, by far, in all motion picture history. The creation of such an attraction is never pure luck. There are a number of important elements which go into achieving the end result. One may take into account the fact that the producers started with a pre-sold property but they made an excellent film, even though lacking any, so called, big established star names. In the final analysis the key to getting all that money for “Jaws” was the booking pattern and concomitantly the huge and expensive TV campaign. Thus, while there existed a presold potential audience the distributors made sure, in no uncertain manner, that the public was made well aware of its availability for viewing. In the last year, theatre owners, particularly circuits, have increased the number of their multiple screen theatres both in new buildings and in remodelled existing structures. This is a policy which exhibitors in smaller situations might do well to emulate. The cost of building continues to spiral. It seems that construction workers want more money, even if they can’t get work. Thus the cost of building con Our Business .,...... THE CANADIAN SCENE tinues to rise at the rate of approximately one per cent per month. In the United States, the building of theatres has gone on at a faster pace particularly multiples. There is a danger that this will result in Over-seating a particularly vicious disease in our business. Hopefully, such a malady will not beset us in Canada. Any survey on the health of our business must, inevitably, take into account the condition of Television certainly our most active competitor. When there is a great special on TV, or a very exciting sporting event, or a block buster movie from yesteryear, or special news item, we may expect people to sit home and watch and the box-office will suffer. When TV was first introduced and the novelty kept people at home, chained to their sets, it would seem, we said that business would be bad until we, as an industry, had paid for all the TV sets. And so it was. And after that business started to get better and along came colour and we paid for the colour sets too. We have just about finished doing that but there are other perils on the horizon. Many people are now renting colour TV sets and this is a constant drain on such individuals’ entertainment dollar. Cable TV had an important impact because, for a small monthly fee, one may enjoy improved reception and also have the choice of a greater number of stations and now, with convertors, the number of available channels increases. But there is a constant and ongoing cost to the consumer. Now we face the possible return of pay TV. When pay TV was tried in Canada, over a decade ago, ona trial basis, it was a failure. Now, in the US. it is being tried through cable and with a new approach, and there appears to be some possibility of success. On the other hand TV as a basic entertainment medium and as opposition would appear to be declining. Many of the new shows in the U.S., this past season, were flops and were replaced by the networks as rapidly as possible. Late last Fall, Variety Magazine summarized the situation tersely and pungently with this headline: ‘‘TV’s 2nd season: retreat and repeat Nets play it safe with formula shows’’. Cable gives the viewer a better picture and, with this, a wider choice in selection of stations. This tends to reduce the potential viewing audience for any network show. Production costs keep rising, therefore the advertiser is called upon to pay higher 7