THE FILM INDUSTRY

Waipawa Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 151, 12 September 1928, Page 1

THE FILM INDUSTRY

AMERICA’S HOLD. SAN FRANCISCO, July 25. The American motion picture industry is now supplying 85 per cent, of the foreign demand for films. Of the total capital of £550,000,000 invested in the moving picture business throughout the world, America’s share is £400,000,000. America owns nearly half the 52,000 theatres scattered over the globe, representing a total capacity of 20,000,000 people. The foreign business of the American distributors constitutes about 30 per cent, of their entire revenue, and, in 1927, they exported 230,000,000 feet of film, which was 20 per cent, of their total production, representing a gross revenue of £10,000,000. Of this revenue, 65 per cent, came from Europe, one-half of which came from Great Britain. Great Britain, during 1927, produced only 44 domestic films, as contrasted with 723 films imported from America, whose total film production was 2000 films. Germany produced 341, France 74, and Poland 17. With the exception of Japan, American motion pictures are increasingly popular in the Far East, and represent 90 per cent, of the total screenings there. Aside from the United States and Germany, Japan is the only country in the world where the domestic production is in the preponderance, filling 75 per cent, of the country’s screen requirements.