Film consumer decision-making: the Philadelphia story, 1935–36

Pokorny, M. and Sedgwick, J. 2012. Film consumer decision-making: the Philadelphia story, 1935–36. Journal of Consumer Culture. 12 (3), pp. 323-346. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540512456999

TitleFilm consumer decision-making: the Philadelphia story, 1935–36
TypeJournal article
AuthorsPokorny, M. and Sedgwick, J.
Abstract

This article uses consumer research conducted in the early 1940s to interrogate and interpret a new dataset of daily box-office returns for 22 cinemas in the city of Philadelphia over 33 weeks traversing 1935–36. Our findings attempt to contextualize the observation made by the 1940s market investigators that just under half of cinema audiences were non-selective. It does this by a detailed analysis of the system of film distribution in which films were distributed in a hierarchical manner, from first-run through to fourth-run cinemas. Through an analysis of the variation in the performance of films at each level of the distribution hierarchy, and the impact that this variation had on the distribution of film revenues, we conclude that the impact of non-selective audiences on film outcomes was limited, irrespective of the relative importance of this audience component. We conclude by comparing and contrasting risk environments of the 1930s and contemporary film industries.

JournalJournal of Consumer Culture
Journal citation12 (3), pp. 323-346
ISSN1469-5405
Year2012
PublisherSage
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540512456999
Publication dates
PublishedNov 2012

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