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NEW SERIES VOL 2. No. 26
TELEVISION DIGEST— 5
Combined first-quarter earnings of these 8 firms in film industry tumbled to $10 million from $15.1 million in Jan.-March 1961. The 1962 figure is after deducting loss of $513,587 recorded by 20th Century-Fox. It must be noted, however, that loss is after a special amortization charge of $2,090,000 and reflects 20th Century's new policy of writing off prospective losses on all films released during a given quarter.
Profit drops were reported by 3 of 8 companies : MGM — to $2.6 million from $6.7 million. Paramount — $1.1 million from $2.5 million. 20th Century — loss of $513,587 from $1.7 million profit. For brighter picture, Screen Gems posted record $1.1 million — up from $845,160. MCA doubled year-ago's $2 million profit to record $4.2 million.
It's interesting to note — and perhaps significant — that best profit performances were turned in by 2 film companies which are exclusively in TV. Among film makers listed above, only MCA and Screen Gems do not produce theatrical films.
Aggregate sales of 5 companies improved to $158.5 million from $150.9 million. Only one of these film companies, 20th Century-Fox, was down from 1961's first-quarter — to $33.2 million from $34.9 million. Sizable gains were registered by Technicolor — to $14.8 million from $11.8 million; Movielab — $1.7 million from $1.4 million; United Artists — $32 million from $27 million.
Here's 1962-vs.-1961 first-quarter performances of representative firms in film industry:
Sales Earnings
1962
1931
1962
1961
MGM ____
$ 76,766,000
$ 75,778,000
$2,553,000
$ 6,684,000
Movielab
1,685,314
1,436,380
97,235
69,399
MCA
4,203,841
2,019,553
Paramount
1,129,000
2,450,000
Screen Gems
1,055,509
845,160
Technicolor
14,796,100
11,807,564
567,326
451,479
20th Century-Fox
33,215,994
34,894,728
(513,587)
1,669,244
United Artists
32,065,000
29,965,000
916,000
879,000
TOTALS . .
$158,528,408
$150,947,415
$10,008,324
$15,067,835
Opening quarter of 1962
was 2nd fiscal quarter for 3 other film producers. Although Jan.-March 1962
breakdown is not available, their composite picture for the half shows sales
up moderately
— profits up
mightily :
Sales
Earnings
1962
1961
1962
1961
Walt Disney (6 months)
$ 32,643,281
$ 23,065,743
$2,425,065
$ 669,982
Warner Bros. (6 months)
44,079,000
47,008,000
4,074,000
3,564,000
Universal (26 weeks)
3,371,647
1,835,322
TOTALS
$ 76,722,281
$ 70,073,743
$9,870,712
$ 6,069,304
Jan.-March 1962 period was 3rd fiscal quarter for Allied Artists, Columbia and Screen Gems. Latter, which had record profits for Jan.-March 1962, also posted peak earnings for 9-month period, despite slight sales sag. Here's aggregate 9-month picture of these 3 film producers :
Sales Earnings
1962 1961 1962 1961
Allied Artists (39 weeks) $ 9,585,000 $ 10,498,489 $(1,196,000) $ 414,105
Columbia (9 months) 1,689,000 56,000
Screen Gems (9 months) 37,930,560 40,510,183 2,428,236 1,817,752
TOTALS $ 47,515,560 $ 51,008,672 $ 2,921,236 $ 2,287,857