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Total Cost of Production
The production of motion picture films is not a manufacturing activity in the sense in which the term is generally used to designate the factory production of commodities. Furthermore, since the Motion Picture Industry does not usually sell, "but leases or rents its product, it is impossible to determine the actual value of the output of a given year until a long time after its close. It is therefore necessary to substitute "cost of production" for "value of product" in presenting data for this Industry.
An examination of Table VI indicates that the cost of production increased each year from 1921, until it reached a peak of $184,102,000 in 1929 when the introduction of equipment for sound production caused a large increase in cost of production. In 1931, the Industry's decreased production costs can probably be attributed in part to better adjustment to the innovation of sound, but the impact of the depression was probably beginning to be felt.
TABLE VI
Total Cost of Production, for Census Years, 1921-1933
(In thousands)
Year
Cost of
Per Cent Change
Production
from Preceding Year
1921
$77,397
1923
86,418
+ 11.7
1925
93,636
+ 8.4
1927
134,343
•i 43c 5
1929
184,102
+ 37.0
1931
154,436
16.1
1933
119,343
22.7
Source: Census of Manufactures. 1929 and 1933. "Motion Pictures, not Including Projection in Theatres."
Volume of Production
Total Domestic and Foreign Releases. Table VII shows the total number of features released in the United States for the years 1927 to 1934. Data are presented to show how many of the total releases were foreign features and how many were made by American producers. During the years 1932, 1933, and 1934, the proportion of foreign pictures releases was greater than in most of the prior years. In 1934 the number of foreign features shown in this country amounted to 27.5 per cent of the total.
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