MONEY IN FILMS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 15047, 15 August 1914, Page 15

MONEY IN FILMS.

ACTUAL TACTS ASD FIGUBES.

L ° adoa \ If 07Cr thoro was » Tom Tiddlers; -round it i* kiocmatograpby. Tbero fe no doubt that eonio people arJlfirollv pickin R up gold and in "the business. It is equals certain that other people are losmj; money. Ono bears statements of fortunes made cult to know what W believe. On all Side one soos efena of irlwt appear. to Iμ brilliant prosperityWhat arc tho facts." To get at llioao «•« n»«st. fcr ? <* «- rive at the total capita! mveeted in picture-palaco finance. An tior of the returns issued by tho Board tro speculation properly data* from t«o vc»r 1003. Previous to tuat penod, akboßEli several theatres vrero bui t by private effort, not, a amglo pictureIheatre company had beca regwtercd. For the next five years tho figures aro as follow: Capital. ia-s 3 Companies 110,000 )m ::: k» &»&** VSS-'wl 1910 - 295 Companies ; } fe-]~. l'Jl'J .'• 'iG4 Companies 1,92i,<.)>0 t ,«««.;s!f;sg,« capital or, hutwith an incrcaso less than « 191 S. but •wrtg a itaU sum of approximately £11,129,-HW, but in addition to this, ™ have to toko into consideration the money invited in tho privatoiy-owned houa* Supposing this to bo a /<"\ rtb « f ottfoVT which I believe to be a >cry modest estimate, and deducting, say, £600,000' for uncalled capital, to arrive at a grand total of £13,311./08, as representing tho apgregato capital inveked to-day in this country in picturedrome finance. In statistics ot such wagnitudo us this, stnet accuracy is, of coarse, impossible, but it may betaken that the above figures do not ovorstato tho case. PROFITS—AND LOSSES. Thero aro about f>9oo kinematograph theatres in tho United Kingdom, and tho average atoonnt of rates, ana taxes paid per year by each is probably about £80, reckoning ihe rental values at £200. Tho total expenditure under this head is therefore approximately £552,000. Tho electric lighting probably runs away -with £7 per week, which amounts to another £2,511,600. The averago vape- -•■ por hall will corae to at least £12 per -week, -or £4,305.600 on tho year, and the cost of film hiro will not bo less than this again. Repairs, advertisements, and other sundry expenses should, I think, bo , covered by tho sale of programmes and ; tho profit on refreshments. Adding those exrvensoa together -we arrive at tho following results:— r i . £ Rates and taxes ... ... 552.000 and other lighting 2..T1 1.000 Wnaos ... ... 4.305 600 Film cost ... ... 4,306,000 Total 11,074,200 Subtracting this'from tho £13,311,758 which wo estimated to bo the total amount of money, invested in piefcuredromo finance, and the • differonco is £1,637,658 ca tho bright eidc, or 12 l-3rd per cent. To mako this profit tho G9OO-theatres most take from their patroua a gross yearly sum equal to tho amount of the total capital invested. This works out at £1927 por theatre, or £37 per week, a very. small sum for tho modern up-to-date picture palace- to take, even per day, but requiring several weeks' effort on the part of the small picture hall of early days, with a seating capacity of 100 to 200. or which thejho.are still a good many such bosses in existence. So that I, think wo shall not be very far out if we assume that the picture theatre business to day is, generally speaking drawing the comfortable profit of over 12 par cent, on its invested capital. It is perfectly trno, ©f course, that picture-fheatrc building is overdone. When we see single thoroughfares like Edgewaro road with seven kinema theatres and Tottenham Court road and Mile End road with six each, this is obvious, and it Is probably a fact tliat at least'SO- per cent, of existing theatres (principally, of course, tho older and smallor houses) are not now run at a profit. Tho long list of theatre mortgages and debenture issues which appear 'each month, side by side with the list .of "theatre registrations, points to this j bat such a condition, in view of the general prosperity, is no sign of stagnation. It is a sign of vitality, paradoxical as tins may sound, for itproves that tho trade is at hist shedding its anperfluouK adipose tissne, and sef> ling down to become one of tho strongest and most- important industries in the country. Not that there is much sign at proBeat of tho rust to speculate ceaeing, for one largo firm of kinema experts tell mc that though they already have on their hooks the names of considerably over 20(10 people who wish to invest iii kinema finance, they aro still receiving forty or fifty fresh enquiries every week! Moreover, no fewer than 1400 picture tlieatres wero opened in tho United Kingdom last year!

A WARNING FROM GERMANY. The rocks ahead takp too form of trusts —oither in ttiuatrcs or films. Bocauso of this evil tho trade in Germany is now undergoing a serious crisis*. Trusts, having gained control of the market, have recently been flooding vhn theatres with mediocre pictures, vrith tho" result that tho picture-going publicis commencing t<v desert the picturedronies for other forms of ainusemom. Sinco tho of the present year the picture shows in Berlin alono have decreased from upwards of 300 to about 270.

i Tbero is no sign, liowecer. of the "Trust evil" spoiling tho market in England yet, end before tho trade settles down tho "boom" will enormously increase—of. this lam quite certain. Bet it will not be on th© picture-theatre l side; it will bo in the producing of films. That thero is room enough for very large development in this direction may bo gathered from the export figures of Spain and Hungary—to take cnJy two countries. Excluding x\Tjstri;i, which might bo expected to be first. tho number of iilms exported" to Hungary last year by various European countries stood approximately tans • Prom Prance 12,000 films, Gcrajanv 6000, Italy and Denmark 2000 each, and Great Britain only 1000.

For Spain, the are equally significant. Great Britain coming i% r hind Germany, Frtoce, and tio United State*.

It is in fchp direction of film producing that British enterprise will undoubtedly develop inihe aezt few years, and then tho industry ci the picturedromo will become, because of tho alliance of intereste. one of the most healthy j- n&**iade& in ihc£o inlands.