Canadian Film Weekly Year Book of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry (1957)

Our Business By N. A. TAYLOR igen has not been a great deal of change in exhibition in Canada during the year. More theatres were shuttered and few new ones were built. Activity in the drive-in field was small in comparison to former years. There now seems to be an acceptance of the fact that most profitable locations have been occupied and new competitors face little prospect of profit. In fact, two losers may result instead of one already established profit maker. In some locations, where this has happened, the respective owners have been sensible enough to work out some kind of deal to eliminate ‘‘over-seating.” Construction of drive-ins close to very small towns has now practically ceased, since most of these units have, at the best, proved borderline and many have been losers. It is now generally recognized that with TV and new present-day living conditions it requires about twice the number of people in a location to support a fourwall theatre. In areas where this has been recognized, and the number of available seats has been reduced, the prosperity of the remaining theatres has increased. In some places there does not seem to be a shortage of product but there is always a dearth of sock attractions. In the last year a number of gimmick pictures have shown some limited boxoffice strength in the large centres. The largest group of regular patrons is that of the young and teenage groups, and films appealing to such a segment of the public have done particularly well, indicating that this group is anxious to attend theatres if offered what they want to see. It is expected that the population of Canada will reach 17,000,000 in the near future and the percentage of urbanites continues to increase, having already exceded two-thirds of the population. Part of the population-growth has been spurred by immigration and part by the great number of war and post-war marriages and also the increased number of larger families. The number of young people in relation to the entire population is also increasing rapidly. It is estimated that by 23 the early 60’s there will be great difficulty providing sufficient accommodation for the great wave of teenagers seeking admission to high schools. These facts would indicate that the potential audience for motion picture theatres is increasing. There is now a great deal of talk about Telemovies and Telemeter. New movies and other types of spectator entertainment, through Famous Players’ Telemeter system, will be available for a fee in homes during 1958. The degree of public acceptance and its desire to pay for such entertainment in the home will be followed with great interest by everyone in our business. Film distribution to theatres continues to be plagued by the twin problems of increased overhead and decreased grosses. There are fewer outlets to service and in many cases the returns are down. Yet, every major circuit continues to operate six fully staffed branches in Canada, a country which can scarcely yield the returns of one good branch office in the United States. There has been talk of consolidation and other potential economies but as yet no effective plan has been agreed upon. The pattern for the release of films is slowly changing. Multi-theatre first runs had been established in some large centres even before the current trend in the United States. The practice is not likely to grow since there are so few large cities in Canada where such an idea is feasible. However, there is a growing realization that most films lose boxoffice lustre when they cease to be offered to the public “thot” and a real attempt is being made to shorten clearances and generally make films available at earlier times. There are still many advantages for motion picture theatres, such as wide screens, clear pictures, color, lack of home annoyances and other factors, which have not been stressed sufficiently to the public. It would appear that in situations where overseating has been eliminated business has hit bedrock. The hard core of young people attending motion picture theatres today will remain, regardless of first-run films arriving in their homes for a fee. It seems likely that motion picture theatres will continue to occupy an important part in the entertainment pattern of many communities.