Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin (1956)

MOVIE BUSINESS ON UPBEAT 1'rtnlm I Shortage (Continued from Page 13) of entertainment media. Substantiation for this argument can be found in the movies' 1954 recovery. At the same time, Hollywood has been upgrading its products considerably. Instead of turning out a host of run-of-the-mill pictures, such as it did five or ten years ago, it has been producing a smaller number of highergrade features, some of them adapted from proven Broadway successes and from best-selling books. Taking full advantage of its superior technical facilities, it has been presenting extravaganzas on wide-screen, in stereophonic sound, and with colorful exotic settings. As a result, today's movie theatres can offer their audiences a better opportunity to participate vicariously in the film experience, to a degree that probably will not be equaled by television presentations for many years to come. Television — Now A Partner Instead of hurting the motion picture industry as it did a few years ago, the television industry now actually seems to be helping Hollywood in many respects. For example: (1) The advent of television has restored a healthy competitive atmosphere to the entertainment world. Stimulated to greater achievement by this new-found competition, Hollywood has become more quality conscious. Its products have been substantially improved both in terms of ingredients and technical methods of presentation. While the initial investments required for its products improvement may be large, the outlay will probably prove highly rewarding ultimately. (2) The television industry has opened up a new source of revenues for Hollywood. Most of the major studios are now producing regular TV programs for telecasting. Reflecting Hollywood's experience, talent, and showmanship, these movie industry programs have proved popular. Since the programs are designed principally for TV showing, they are not expected to compete with the new full-length motion pictures being released for the movie theatres. On the contrary, announcements and previews of new pictures may serve to encourage attendance. (3) The television industry presents an unusual opportunity for motion picture studios to realize "windfalls" on their libraries of old films. Following the sale of RKO Radio Pictures' entire library to a television distributor, Paramount Pictures has sold 1,600 of its library of 2,100 short subjects for $3 million, and Columbia Pictures has offered 104 features, about 10% of the more than 1,000 films in the studio's vaults, for telecasting. Many independent producers have likewise followed suit. Since most, if not all, of these old films have already been written off by the studios, proceeds from these transactions represented entirely capital gains. (4) Television has become one of the best advertising mediums for the motion picture industry. Through participating actively in TV programming, most major studios have been promoting their future releases by showing excerpts designed to stimulate popular interest. Good Films Still Scarce If the television industry was not responsible for the f«9t 14 Film BULLETIN Ftbrutry 20. IfM Seen Slump Factor temporary slump in last Fall's theatre attendance, whai then were the major causes? This Service believes thathe underlying factors were a shortage of feature films anc a shortage of audience-drawing talents. Both of these de ficiencies are being remedied. The lack of sufficient feature films had its genesis bad in 1954. That year, the industry enjoyed a number of bij successes, such as "Caine Mutiny" and "White Christmas" which convinced Hollywood that quality pictures wen" what audiences wanted. As a result, most major studio; :; decided to release in 1955 "fewer but bigger and better pic :: tures". The policy to produce "bigger and better" picture;'-: proved successful. Last year, at least 15 pictures grossecit more than $5 million domestically, compared to only 8 ir 1954 and to a total of 4 in the entire 1948-51 period. But tc produce "fewer" pictures may have been a wrong decision While the big pictures did draw a larger number of audi ences to the box office, there were not enough of them wit which to supply all theatres. As a result, many theatres had to continue showing "not so big" pictures long afte attendance had fallen to an unprofitable level. The spokes r. man for a theatre chain in Atlanta, Ga. recently said x "We've been having Christmas slumps for 30 years, but : current box office troubles are due to the tremendous lacl : of product. I'll go further, make it absolute lack ol . product." Hollywood has learned its lesson. This year it will continue to make "bigger and better" pictures — but it wil imake "more". Twentieth Century-Fox, for example, ha;>. decided to release 34 pictures this year, the largest numbei r in almost a decade. Its output will include such ahead} well-known titles as "Carousel", "The King and I", anc ; "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit". Universal, too, indi ,cated that it would up its releases from about 25 last yea: to 30 in 1956, most of which are elaborate productions ii color. All told, the industry is expected to present abou 15% more feature films to its audience this year. Perhap: ■ the only major studio that does not plan to increase its!:schedule is Paramount Pictures. But its studio head ex ~ plains, "'The Ten Commandments' will take the place ofrseveral ordinary films." T: The second problem, a scarcity of top actors, has beei))^ plaguing the motion picture industry for many years. Ti'p a certain extent, of course, it contributed to the lack olp films last year. But it has hurt picture producers sub' . stantially more in another respect. Because of Hollywood' failure to develop new talent over the last few years, allp ready-established actors and actresses have become mon . independent and demanding. Not too long ago, the studio1-", literally owned, for professional purposes, their actors, di rectors and writers. At that time, their artists had no free dom of choice once their signatures were affixed to 7-yea contracts, with option for renewal vested solely in the em ployers. The producers could, therefore, pick some ra»; " actor from Main Street, and polish and burnish him inttf--" an adventurous hero, the subject of public adulation. On' or two years hence, these actors would be drawing millionl ' to the box office, and fantastic profits would pour in fron (Continued on Page 3U I