Present and Future.
It was predicted that the cinematograph, like the skating rink, would have a short life and die in its infancy, but this was a mistaken idea—the “movies,” like “Liza,” have “come to stay.” They are a force to be reckoned with. It would not be overstating the fact to say that more people attend the cinema than all other places of entertainment massed together.
The returns relative to the cinema industry are immense. Regarding attendances at these places in this country, it shows no fewer than 1,075,875,000 attendances at cinema exhibitions in the course of a single year. In the British Isles there are approximately 4,500 theatres with a seating capacity of accommodating one in every thirty-seven of the population. Upon working out these figures it shows that the entire population of the United Kingdom visits cinema exhibitions on an average once a fortnight. About 5,000 new subjects are issued each year, and some 70,000,000 feet of film are running through the projectors each week. From 80,000 to 100,000 persons are directly engaged in the various branches of the trade.
Its increased popularity in the future is assured, and its progress will depend largely upon what uses the nation makes of this new force in national education.