Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1936)

18 MOTION PICTURE HERALD July 18, 1936 TWO AUSTRALIAN CIRCUITS' TICKET SALES IN YEAR 4 TIMES POPULATION Patrons of GeneralTheatres Corporation and Hoyts Buy 26,152,000 Admissions Despite Increase of Independents by CLIFF HOLT in Melbourne Despite an increasing number of radio licenses and independently owned theatres, audited figures show that attendances over the General Theatres Corporation circuit increased in 1935 compared with the corresponding period in the previous year, the combined number of tickets sold being 127,000 greater. Over the Hoyts circuit, attendances improved by 379,812; and the total number of tickets sold by both General Theatres Corporation and Hoyts Theatres, Ltd., reached the total of 26,152,986, or more than four times the total population of Australia. The statistics in relation to GTC were disclosed in the annual report of Wests, Ltd., which showed that the company made a profit of £3,980 ($19,940), comparing with £3,679 in the preceding year. Presenting the report to shareholders, the chairman, W. E. Smith, said that perhaps the most important deal consummated in the year was the acquisition, by British Empire Films, Ltd., of the distributing rights for Australasia of the C. M. Woolf franchises. Many advantages were expected to accrue, he said, from the trip abroad of Stuart F. Doyle, "who was overseas at a very opportune time, for certain very important developments took place shortly after his arrival in London which will have a bearing on the future of our distributing and exhibiting." Planning New Theatres Discussing the increased attendances over the GTC and Hoyts circuits, Charles E. Munro, managing director, said that while there was still a long way to go before a return to pre-depression business could be anticipated, the additional opposition which the two circuits faced was far from having a detrimental effect upon the returns of either company; and Hoyts already had completed plans for the erection of several theatres for the purpose of strengthening the circuit still further. This confident expression from the Hoyts chief will no doubt have its effect on intending investors, who may have been contemplating the operation of theatres in competition to Hoyts. With the unassailable advantage of being able to select from every service except Paramount and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Hoyts is no easy victim for independent competitors these days, as many an independent has found out to his cost. V Taxes Parallel Profit Further interesting figures concerning Hoyts Theatres, Ltd., and tabled in the House of Representatives, show that in the six years ended June 30, 1935, the company AGED SISTERS SEE FIRST PICTURE SHOW Miss Mollie Graham, 96, and her sister, Mrs. G. W. Kumbaugh, octogenarian, of Willard, Ohio, have attended their first motion picture show. H. L. Tracy, manager of the Temple, was host at their introduction to the screen. returned a net profit of £173,313, yet in that period paid in direct taxation, consisting of federal land, federal income and state land and state income taxes, an amount of £149,196. In addition to this it collected in behalf of the Commonwealth and state governments the sum of £450,000 in entertainment tax, making a total of £599,197. Over the same period the preference shareholders contributed nearly £1,000,000 of capital and received only £96,407 in dividends. The ordinary shareholders received nothing. The figures were presented in the House as the basis of an argument for a reduction of taxation on leaseholders of theatres, the speaker pointing out that the money spent by leaseholders on improving their properties was not an allowable deduction for taxation purposes by way of depreciation. V Fox Handling Gaumont The completion of negotiations by which the physical distribution of Gaumont-British will be handled by Fox in Australia for a further term of years puts to an end rumors that have intrigued the industry here for some weeks. Apart from outlining the bare facts, Stanley S. Crick, managing director of Fox in Australia, has no comment to make on the transaction, which, however, washes up the story that Associated Distributors would get the franchise. Associated is the company formed by Stuart F. Doyle to handle the C. M. Woolf product; and it was freely tipped here that if Mr. Doyle succeeded in obtaining the GaumontBritish product, he also would have every chance of landing the Universal output for Australasia, by reason of Mr. Woolf's negotiations with that company. The release of Gaumont-British in the Commonwealth and New Zealand will be distinct from the release of the Twentieth Century-Fox product in that it will go through the newly formed Dominion Film Distributors, of which it is reported that Stanley Crick will be chairman of directors, Ernest Turnbull managing director, and Alan Williamson, local representative of G-B, a director. Besides handling GaumontBritish and Gainsborough, the company will release Twickenham, British Lion, and probably Fox's British output. Although previously mentioned in the negotiations, Hoyts is not likely to be directly connected with the organization, but because of the Fox influence it will no doubt provide a very valuable releasing channel. Ernest Turnbull, who has figured so prominently in the deal, and who made a rush trip to London on what proved a suc Taxes Paid Out by Hoyts Circuit in Six Years, Including Entertainments Levy, Almost Equal Net Profit cessful mission, formerly had charge of the distribution on this market of the British and Dominions Films product. V Extensive Advertisers Australian city theatres always have been noted for their extensive newspaper advertisements, and taken at large, 65 per cent of a theatre's advertising expenditure goes into this medium. In the past, various attempts have been made to place a limitation on the spaces used; but whereas, around the conference table, competing interests have agreed upon such limitations, it has never been very long before someone or other has broken the pact. Newspaper rates here in the leading dailies range from 10/ a single column inch to 22/6, and while full pages of 176 inches are not uncommon, half-pages and full three-column advertisements are the routine thing. These large spaces frequently have given rise to charges of extravagance by shareholders and others, but many showmen still maintain that they are necessary and payable investments. Indeed, when compared with the spaces taken by the leading retail stores, they appear to be decidedly conservative. As an example of this, on a recent Friday evening (the night on which the theatres advertise most heavily) Melbourne's leading metropolitan daily carried two and a half pages of picture and legitimate theatre advertising, representing both Melbourne's city and suburban theatre interests. Yet on the following night, in the same newspaper, Melbourne's biggest retail store took no less than 10 full pages, an investment of £1,144 without the cost of cuts and art work, to advertise its winter sale. A decision to limit spaces to a maximum of 16 inches over three columns has now been undertaken by General Theatres Corporation, which controls the majority of the leading theatres (and biggest advertisers) in the five Australian capitals. Some of GTC's competitors have agreed to fall in line with the company's policy, but on this occasion GTC is proceeding with the plan irrespective of what the opposition does. Outlining the arrangement, Charles E. Munro, managing director of both GTC and Hoyts, says that the idea is to spread the expenditure over the season of the picture, rather than throw the bulk of it into preliminary activity, as is now the practice. His comment here is significant, and indicates a gradual or eventual reduction of advertising expenditures if business does not decline as a result of these economies, for he continues : "That, of course, will lead us to a more sane use of the space we buy,