Interim Report on the Canadian Feature Film Industry

Studies & Reports 9 of 29

"The notable increase in movie attendance by Canadians is particularly interesting. In the 1950s many industry analysts predicted the demise of feature film thanks to the introduction of television. In the 1970s it was thought that the VCR would similarly jeopardize movie attendance. More recently — against the backdrop of ongoing innovations in technology such as the DVD, the PVR, video-on-demand, digital television and HDTV, peer-to-peer file sharing, and so on — there have been those who have worried that the feature film industry would find it harder to attract sizeable audiences. And yet despite this ever-increasing array of leisure time choices, Canadians have consistently flocked in large numbers to see feature films.

But challenges remain for Canada’s film industry. This is because box office receipts for the viewing of Canadian-made feature films have consistently represented a small fraction of the overall viewing of feature films. In fact, for many decades, the viewing of Canadian films remained stagnant at about 2%. Part of the challenge has been the long-standing global dominance of American feature films. This is why most film-producing countries outside the United States have, over time, introduced measures to encourage their respective domestic film production sectors."