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tres, has no assurance of a continouous supply of suitable attractions for its theatre. It could not be effective, because the affiliated theatre could bid larger sums for pictures as long as it was buying them from its own subsidiary or for the corporation which owns the producing and distributing company. It would thus seem that the unaffiliated theatre would be the one hit since it would have no assurance whatever of attractions.
This prohibition would also destroy the present system under which a theatre builds up its patronage by establishng good-will in the minds of its customers by advertising a certain brand of pictures or certain stars. If Will Rogers' pictures, for instance, could only be offered separately at auction, no theatre would care to try to build up a Will Rogers following on its own expense and efforts. The box-office in a particular theatre frequently thrives in proportion to the general following which has been built up for the stars exhibited in that theatre. It would be difficult for any theatre to capitalize on the popularity of a star if the pictures featuring that star are to be suddenly shunted from one theatre to ananother.
The sale by a producer or distributor to circuit theatres in preference to an unaffiliated theatre in many cases is merely the reflection of the economic factor both as to safety and outlet and the lesser cost of selling that goes with a circuit sale. It is much cheaper to sell one hundred theatres of a circuit than to travel around and negotiate the same number of separate contracts. Furthermore, each circuit having a much larger investment to protect has a greater appreciation of a tie-in with a quality producer than an mividual that uses one brand of pictures this year and changes next year.
It is a common practice to rent motion pictures for exhibition on a percentage basis with the receipts at the theatre during the exhibition period divided between the distributor and the exhibitor on an agreed percentage basis. This has always been recognized as a fair and equitable system and has been growing in popularely and use, particularly among exhibitors operating the larger and more important theatres.