Boxoffice-March.20.1948

A TOTAL OF 16.543 THEATRES
IN 29 EXCHANGE TERRITORIES
New York and Boston Lists
Still Due From MPAA;
May Reach 18,353
NEW YORK — Theatre and seating
statistics for 29 of the 31 United States
exchanges have been compiled and published
by the MPAA. The missing exchanges
are New York and Boston.
There are some surprises. For instance,
in the 29 exchange areas there are 16,453
theatres operating. They have 9,913,775
seats.
Six hundred and seventy-five theatres with
385,797 seats are closed. There is no explanation
for this.
If all the theatres in the 29 exchange areas
filled their seats at least once a week that
would be 69,396,425 admissions per week—less
than half the estimated 145,340,000 persons
in the country.
NEW YORK AREA IS LARGEST
In the New York exchange area—the official
figures are not ready yet—it is estimated
there are about 1,100 theatres with less than
1,500,000 seats, with approximately 150 closed
theatres containing something over 100,000
seats.
In the Boston exchange area it is estimated
in advance of the official figures that there
are 800 theatres. The number of seats is not
available, but will
be within a few days.
Add the estimated totals for New York and
Boston to the official total of 16,453 theatres
in operation and it becomes apparent that
there are about 18,353 theatres in operation
in the 48 states.
The War Activities committee figured the
total at 16,500 when it sent out a series of
mailings and removed the addresses which
did not respond. Apparently many theatre
managers did not bother to answer their
mail.
Eighteen thousand has been the estimated
total used by the industry for several years
and this was thS total quoted in several
briefs presented to the supreme court in the
antitrust
trial.
DALLAS SECOND WITH 1,302
New York, Dallas and Atlanta are the three
exchange areas with the largest number of
theatres—in that order. This may surprise
some in the industry who have long regarded
Chicago as second on the list.
New York leads on a seat basis with an
esimated 1,210,488 seats, but Dallas tops it
on a theatre count, with an official total of
1,302 theatres containing 706,682 seats.
Atlanta has 1,048 theatres with 639,286
seats. This area may be split at some future
date because of the distances covered. Paramount
has a distribution depot in Jacksonville
for the Florida territory and there has
been some talk among other companies of
opening similar depots when construction
costs come down.
Fourteen of the remaining 29 exchanges
where the count has been completed have
more than 500
this
order:
Minneapolis
Philadelphia
Washington
Cincinnati
Chicago
Los Angeles
Chcrrlotte