On the movie industry, as we approach Oscar night...

As I write this, there are just 8 days and 5 hours left until the 2016 Oscars begin.  (Well, the red carpet portion, anyhow, which I'm told is just as important as the suspense, satire, and speeches of the actual ceremony.)  Although, technically I guess they've already begun if you consider the fact that a quartet of Vancouver inventors has won an award this month.

Add to that the fact that Canada's weak loonie and recent discussion about changes to the all-important tax credit system have led to a spate of stories about the economics of the industry (sample from this week: Industry, critics urge caution before changing B.C. film tax credits), then throw in the fact that Statistics Canada announced yesterday the release of their latest batch of Motion Picture Theatres data, and my attention has been officially caught.

And, as you may already know, once I get interested, I can't resist doing a quick survey of our other resources to see what else we have on that industry/market:

• Starting with a slightly deeper exploration of that Statistics Canada release mentioned above, the latest data is in the form of CANSIM tables, available for all in tables 361-0068 to 361-0071. Until this year, such data was always added to a biannual publication. Although that no longer happens, researchers may still want to check out Motion Picture Theatres (87F0009X) for a nicely packaged overview of the industry. 
  
    
• Over to IBISWorld, where a quick search unveils several reports relevant to the production and viewing of movies here. The following are the key Canadian titles, but IBISWorld also has some great US, China, and Global focused reports that might prove useful.
  • Movie & Video Distribution in Canada
  • Movie Theatres in Canada 
  • Movie, Television & Video Production in Canada
  • DVD, Game & Video Rental in Canada
  • Video Postproduction Services in Canada 
    
     
• Switching over to the market/consumers/viewers side of things, Passport GMID tends to be more focused on fast-moving consumer goods than on services, but it's still worth checking for reports such as:
  • Home Audio and Cinema in Canada
  • Home Video in Canada
  • Filmmaking in Canada: ISIC 9211 (deep analysis of the production industry!)
    
      
• As for articles (news, industry, and journal) and reports via Business Source Complete, a few of the key terms seem to be Motion Pictures, Motion Picture Industry, or Box Office Revenue, combined with terms such as Sales, Marketing, or Economic Aspects.  Try this search to cast a wide net across all of those terms. That should get you such sources as...
  • File Sharing and Film Revenues: Estimates of Sales Displacement at the Box Office 
  • Movies & Entertainment Industry Profile: Canada
  • The Wisdom of Crowds in the Movie Industry: Towards New Solutions to Reduce Uncertainties 
    
      
• How about public opinion polling?  Ipsos News Centre offers a few interesting reports, complete with detailed question-by-question data: 
  • Average Canadian Parent Has Seen Their Children’s Favourite Movie About 33 Times
  • Men and Women Differ Greatly on What Movie Represents Their Ideal Summer; Women Pick Dirty Dancing (39%), Men Choose American Pie (26%)
    
      
• And no post would be complete without pointing out the many relevant books and ebooks available to SFU researchers. Start by scanning the hundreds of titles with Motion picture industry or (much more broadly) Motion Pictures among their subjects. Those terms should catch titles such as: 
  • The international film business : a market guide beyond Hollywood 
  • Review of the feature film industry in Canada : report of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage 
  • Impact analysis of fiscal incentive schemes supporting film and audiovisual production in Europe 
    
      
• And for those who prefer to watch films, rather than just read about them, check out these amazing collections of movies available for viewing by SFU folks...
  • Criterion on Demand: Access to more than 3000 classic films of educational relevance, including 1500 in English, 1100 in French, and 135 in foreign languages with subtitles, from 2001, a Space Odyssey to Zero Dark Thirty.
  • NFB.ca: From Canada's National Film Board, streaming access to over 700 productions, films, trailers and clips. (I'm a fan of the Logger vignette.)
  • Videomatica Documentary Collection: Over 2,000 documentaries from the former Videomatica rental store in Kitsilano.
  • More?  See our Film Information Resources: Media page for search tips and links. 

As always, this is just a taste of what's available. If you have questions, send them our way!

-- MarkB

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Mark Bodnar

mbodnar@sfu.ca 

Image credit: By 8bf CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons