Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1962)

Record Details:

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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