The Motion Picture Industry

Abstract

In structure this industry is like any other. It has its manufacturers, jobbers and retailers, called, respectively, producers, distributors and exhibitors. Advertising and selling are important functions. Altogether it has all the economic law and order of the industries of staple products. To-day, upwards of 7,000,000 persons attend daily the motion picture theatres of the United States. This would indicate an appeal to at least fifty per cent of the population. With many families the expenditure for motion pictures is a considerable, if unknown, part of the yearly budget. The fact is that the motion picture has become quite generally a necessity, though paid for somewhat loosely, like a luxury. The average price of picture theatre admissions is around twenty-eight cents. We can figure, then, on a daily box-office intake in this country of $2,000,000. Taking into consideration those states and localities where theatres are closed on Sundays, we can figure a yearly total for the picture theatre box office of approximately $650,000,000. This is for the United States and Canada only. The total daily receipts of motion picture theatres throughout the world exceed a billion dollars a year. The American producer supplies upwards of eighty-five per cent of the pictures shown in the theatres of all foreign countries. This is the one American manufacturing industry which takes precedence to such an extent in foreign trade. We will treat of the foreign field a little later. In the meantime, we can but visualize the structure of the industry by considering separately its three branches-production, distribution and exhibition-or manufactur-