This book examines the economic circumstances in which films were produced, distributed, exhibited, and consumed during the spoken era of film production until 1970. The periodisation covers the years between the onset of sound and the demise of the phased distribution of films.
Films are generally appreciated for their aesthetic qualities. But they are also commodities. This work of economic history presents a new approach, considering consumption behaviour as significant as supply-side decision-making. Audiences tastes are considered central, with box-office an indicator of what they liked. The POPSTAT Index of Film Popularity is used as a proxy where box office knowledge is missing. Comparative analysis is conducted through the tool RelPOP.
The book comprises original case studies covering film consumption in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States during the 1930s; Australia and occupied Belgium during the Second World War; and Italy, the United States, Poland and Czechoslovakia during the Post-war. An overriding theme is how the classical American business model, which emerged during the 1910s linking production to distribution and exhibition, adapted to local circumstances, including the two countries behind the Iron Curtain during the years of High Stalinism.
| Introduction: `Millions of People Every Day'--Cinema as Part of the Quotidian of Life |
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1 | (18) |
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Managing Risk in the Film Business--Key Concepts and Methods |
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19 | (26) |
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How Did the Department of Justice Get It so Wrong? Philadelphia 1935-1936: The Stanley Warner Chain, Competitive Practices and Consumer Welfare |
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45 | (20) |
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Comparative Film Popularity in Three English Cities--Bolton, Brighton, and Portsmouth: An Exercise in POPSTAT Methodology |
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65 | (22) |
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Popular Films in Stockholm During the 1930s: A Presentation and Discussion of the Pioneering Work of Leif Furhammar |
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87 | (56) |
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Dutch Films in the Mid-1930s Dutch Market: A Characteristics Approach to Film Popularity |
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143 | (42) |
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Unravelling Australia's `Infamous "Contract" System': Evidence from Adelaide, 1942-1943 |
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185 | (32) |
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Film Exhibition, Distribution and Popularity in German-Occupied Belgium (1940-1944): Brussels, Antwerp and Liege |
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217 | (32) |
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Five Italian Cities: Comparative Analysis of Cinema Types, Film Circulation and Relative Popularity in the Mid-1950s |
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249 | (32) |
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Cinemagoers Should' learn from progressive movies, again and again'. Cinemagoing in Czechoslovakia, 1949-1952 |
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281 | (26) |
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`It Seems to Me that the Most Popular Films in the West Are Very Harmful to Us': Film Popularity in Poland During the years of `High Stalinisation' |
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307 | (32) |
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Americanisation in Reverse? Hollywood Films, International Influences, and US Audiences, 1946-1965 |
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339 | |
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| Correction to: Film Exhibition, Distribution and Popularity in German-Occupied Belgium (1940-1944): Brussels, Antwerp and Liege |
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John Sedgwick researches the business and economic history of movies and has published widely in business, economic and film history journals. As an academic, he worked for 25 years at London Metropolitan University (UK), teaching industrial economics and research methods. He also served variously as Economics Subject Leader and Director of the Centre for International Business and Sustainability. John was appointed Professor of Film Economics in 2009 and then Professor of Creative Industries in 2011. Between 2013 and 2017, he was employed as a 0.2 Professor in the Business School, University of Portsmouth (UK). He currently has visiting status at Oxford Brooks University
