ANNUAL REPORT OF THE FILM CLASSIFICATION BRANCH FOR 1979 BRITISH •bCl COLUMBIA HON. ALLAN WILLIAMS, Q.C. M. L. MCCAUSLAND Attorney-General of British Columbia Director of Film Classification MINISTRY OF ATTORNEY-GENERAL Honourable ALLAN WILLIAMS, Q.C. A ttorney-General Victoria, B.C. SIR: I have the honour to lay before you a report of the business done in pursuance of the Film Classification Branch during the fiscal year ended December 31,1979. MARY-LOUISE McCAUSLAND Director February 15,1980. INTRODUCTION The Motion Pictures Act of 1970 is the authority under which this Branch operates. All pictures to be shown to the public must first be submitted to the Director for classification. The three categories of classification are GENERAL, MATURE, and RESTRICTED. A warning indicating the possibly objectionable content of a film may be assigned as part of the classification. The Annual Report of Film Classification is based on a calendar year. This year's report provides a five-year monthly and annual comparison for 1975 to 1979. Revenue for 1979 increased by $7,370.42 over 1978, although the number of films submitted increased by only three. The increase can be accounted for by the increase in the number of certificates issued. There appears to be a trend toward "saturation booking" of certain features, when a film will open in a large number of theatres simultaneously. Of particular interest this year is the change in proportions of ethnic films. Whereas Chinese films (PRC, Taiwan, and Hong Kong) made up 22 per cent of films viewed in 1978, they increased to 28 per cent in 1979. American films, on the other hand, decreased from 50 per cent in 1978 to 34 per cent in 1979. Cana­ dian films increased from 8 per cent in 1978 to 16 per cent in 1979. This is less encouraging than it would appear, because in 1977 there were 15 Canadian films, and in 1976 there were 18. I hope you will find this report useful and informative. MARY-LOUISE McCAUSLAND Director TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Film Statistics- . 7 Revenue Revenue by Month 9 Films Seen Each Month 12 Films by Ethnic Groups 12 Canadian Films 13 Certificates of Approval 13 Films Classified— General 35 mm. 15 General 35 mm (short subjects) 17 General 16 mm 18 General 16 mm (short subjects) 18 Mature 35 mm 18 Mature 35 mm (short subjects) 24 Mature 16 mm 24 Restricted 35 mm 24 Restricted 35 mm (short subjects) 26 Restricted 16 mm 26 Restricted—Designated 3 5 mm 27 Restricted—Designated 16 mm 28 Restricted—Designated 16 mm (short subjects) 29 Rejected—16 mm ."_ 29 FILM STATISTICS 1979 1. Number of subjects submitted for approval (35 mm) 697 2. Number of subjects submitted for approval (16 mm) 67 3. Number of short subjects (under 3,000 ft.) submitted for approval (35 mm) 44 4. Number of short subjects (under 1,600 ft.) submitted for approval (16 mm) 43 5. Number of arcade films submitted for approval 532 6. Total number of films viewed 1979 1,383 7. Total number of films viewed 1978 1,380 8. Total number of films viewed 1977 1,244 9. Total number of films viewed 1976 980 10. Total number of films viewed 1975 898 CLASSIFICATIONS A. 35 mm and 16 mm 1. Number of subjects submitted classified as General 170 2. Number of subjects submitted classified as Mature 375 3. Number of subjects submitted classified as Restricted 121 4. Number of subjects submitted classified as Restricted (Designated Theatres Only- No Drive-ins) 98 5. Number of subjects submitted classified with Warnings 491 6. Number of subjects submitted and passed with Eliminations 45 7. Number of subjects submitted classified as Rejected 3 8. Number of subjects still Pending 0 B. Short Subjects 35 mm (Under 3,000 ft.) and 16 mm (Under 1,600 ft.) 1. Number of subjects submitted classified as General 50 2. Number of subjects submitted classified as Mature 1 3. Number of subjects submitted classified as Restricted 1 4. Number of subjects submitted classified as Restricted (Designated Theatres Only— No Drive-ins) 35 5. Number of subjects submitted classified with Warnings 35 6. Number of subjects submitted and passed with Eliminations 30 7. Number of subjects submitted classified as Rejected 0 8. Number of subjects still Pending 0 C. Arcade Films (16 mm and 8 mm) All Restricted 1. Number of arcade films classified just as Restricted 532 2. Number of arcade films submitted classified as Rejected 0 D. Trailers 1. Number of trailers (including copies) handled in 1979 2,075 2. Number of trailers Passed 2,074 3. Number of trailers Rejected 1 4. Number of trailers handled in 1978 1,689 5. Number of trailers handled in 1977 1,496 6. Number of trailers handled in 1976 1,279 7. Number of trailers handled in 1975 1,083 REVENUE The revenue for the Office of Film Classification is obtained from the licensing of Film Theatres and Exchanges, Inspection of Films, the issuing of Embossments of Certificate of Approval for copies of films already viewed and the supplying of Restricted Clips. The following data gives figures for the years 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979 for time periods of January to December. 8 BRITISH COLUMBIA Revenue 1975 Total Revenue for 1975 $ 81,682.18 Revenue from the Licensing of Film Theatres 3,050.00 Revenue from the Licensing of Film Exchanges 3,994.18 Revenue from Inspection Fees and Restricted Clips 71,677.00 Revenue from Certificates of Approval 2,961.00 Number of Certificates issued in 1975 806 Number of Film Theatre Licences issued in 1975 (35 mm) 94 Number of Film Theatre Licences issued in 1975 (16 mm) 75 Number of Film Exchange Licences issued in 1975 ($300) 9 Number of Film Exchange Licences issued in 1975 (Ltd. 6—$50) 19 Number of Film Exchange Licences issued in 1975 (16 mm—$25) 16 Number of Restricted Clips issued in 1975 (35 mm and 16 mm) 150 Revenue 1976 Total Revenue for 1976 110,956.42 Revenue from the Licensing of Film Theatres 6,185.00 Revenue from the Licensing of Film Exchanges _ 9,608.42 Revenue from Inspection Fees and Restricted Clips 56,380.00 Revenue from Certificates of Approval 38,783.00 Number of Certificates issued in 1976 1,163 Number of Film Theatre Licences issued in 1976 (35 mm) 173 Number of Film Theatre Licences issued in 1976 (16 mm) 62 Number of Film Exchange Licences issued in 1976 ($300) 16 Number of Film Exchange Licences issued in 1976 (Ltd. 6—-$25) : 19 Number of Film Exchange Licences isused in 1976 (16 mm—$25) 23 Number of Restricted Clips issued in 1976 (35 mm and 16 mm) 228 Revenue 1977 Total Revenue 1977 107,525.50 Revenue from the Licensing of Film Theatres 5,050.00 Revenue from the Licensing of Film Exchanges 6,700.00 Revenue from Inspection Fees and Restricted Clips 54,576.50 Revenue from Certificates of Approval 41,199.00 Number of Certificates issued 1977 1,358 Number of Film Theatre Licences issued in 1977 (33 mm) 178 Number of Film Theatre Licences issued in 1977 (16 mm) 47 Number of Film Exchange Licences issued in 1977 ($300) 21 Number of Film Exchange Licences issued in 1977 (Ltd. 6—$50) 17 Number of Film Exchange Licences issued in 1977 (16 mm—$25) 19 Number of Restricted Clips issued in 1977 (35 mm and 16 mm) 186 Revenue 1978 Total Revenue for 1978 114,396.32 Revenue from the Licensing of Film Theatres 6,105.00 Revenue from the Licensing of Film Exchanges 10,020.82 Revenue from Inspection Fees and Restricted Clips 55,396.50 Revenue from Certificates of Approval 42,874.00 Number of Certificates issued 1978 1,639 Number of Film Theatre Licences issued in 1978 (35 mm) 219 Number of Film Theatre Licences issued in 1978 (16 mm) 39 Number of Film Exchange Licences issued in 1978 ($300) 23 Number of Film Exchange Licences issued in 1978 (Ltd. 6—$50) 34 Number of Film Exchange Licences issued in 1978 (16 mm—-$25) 23 Number of Restricted Clips issued in 1978 (35 mm and 16 mm) 209 Revenue 1979 Total Revenue for 1979 121,766.74 Revenue from the Licensing of Film Theatres 5,720.00 Revenue from the Licensing of Film Exchanges 8,928.74 REPORT OF THE FILM CLASSIFICATION, 1979 Revenue 1979—Continued Revenue from Inspection Fees and Restricted Clips 55,690.00 Revenue from Certificates of Approval 51,428.00 Number of Certificates issued in 1979 2,179 Number of Film Theatre Licences issued in 1979 (35 mm) 220 Number of Film Theatre Licences issued in 1979 (16 mm) 22 Number of Film Exchange Licences issued in 1979 ($300) 24 Number of Film Exchange Licences issued in 1979 (Ltd. 6—$50) .... 25 Number of Film Exchange Licences issued in 1979 (16 mm—$25) 16 Number of Restricted Clips issued in 1979 (35 mm and 16 mm) _ 198 TOTAL REVENUE BY MONTH Month Revenue 1975 Revenue 1976 Revenue 1977 Revenue 1978 Revenue 1979 $ January 8,773.00 16,684.10 9,354.50 11,700.00 11,628.00 February... 6,689.50 8,607.00 8,607.00 6,296.00 9,249.50 March 7,043.50 7,077.00 7,608.00 8,516.00 10,711.00 April 6,210.00 8,096.50 8,481.00 8,214.00 8,237.50 May 6,831.00 8,521.70 7,098.50 9,707.00 8,871.00 June 6,451.00 7,162.00 10,401.00 10,658.50 7,917.50 July 8,314.50 9,672.50 10,917.00 7,406.50 13,230.50 August 5,591.50 9,052.00 8,471.42 11,980.00 9,481.00 September.