The Theatre Industry in Quebec

Introduction

Movie theatres are a vital source of entertainment that has been part of civilized societies for a long time. The success or failure of a theatre industry depends mostly on the reception that people have for their releases. The Canadian theatre industry has, for a long time, been a symbol of success. Today, however, the general trend in the industry is that of dwindling attendance records, and this has been associated with the growing popularity of other forms of entertainment such as the video-on-demand streaming services. The most significant challenge facing theatre exhibitors today is how to reverse the trend on theatre attendance. The exhibitors have adopted concessions and other forms of merchandising. Most of the movie theatres have realized that their survival depends on their ability to draw crowds. The province of Quebec is particularly crucial because of its unique cultural orientation towards the Francophone culture. This paper seeks to analyze the state of a movie theatre in Quebec and what the future looks like for the industry.

The Public

Theater success depends on the type of audience that attends the exhibitions. For example, the presence of young people at a theatre exhibition is an indication that the industry is likely to grow, going forward. However, a trend characterized by fewer young people and more old people is a symbol of a dying industry. The type of audience trend in the Quebec theatre industry can be used as a good indicator of the future of the industry.

The province of Quebec is composed mainly of French-speaking people. The majority of the populations in the region has francophone cultural orientation and hence would gravitate towards of theatres performance acted in French. According to statista , the majority of the people who attend movie theatres are older people. In a study carried out in 2015, 21 percent of all the people who attended the movie theatres were between the ages of 25 and 35. However, the majority of the theatre attendants were aged more than 40 years. Even though the statistics show the national trend, the same pattern can be observed in provinces such as Quebec.

The younger audience prefers to watch movies via the on-demand-video streaming services such as Netflix. The future of the theatre industry in Quebec has been called into question because of the lack of interests from the young people. Traditionally, the more youthful audiences have always kept the theatre industry alive. However, with the older viewers being the majority attendants, the industry is not likely to survive for long. The theatre exhibitioners must find better ways of doing things to attract the young people.

Despite the inevitable change in the Quebec theatre industry, the industry has continued to be viable for sometimes. The resilience is because the theatre exhibitionists have resorted to exploring the cultural aspects of the Quebec people. Most of the theatre performances exhibited within the Quebec theatre industry is meant to celebrate the francophone culture of the Quebec people. The idea is to use the cultural issue as the main point of attraction to bring more audience into the theatres.

The future of the Quebec theatre industry has also been complicated by the many barriers to entry into the industry. The amount of capital investment required of potential new entrants into the market is exorbitantly high, and this has kept many investors away. Existing players in the industry such as Cineplex are enjoying what resembles a monopoly, and hence smaller firms cannot enter the industry. The firms such as Cineplex have failed to find new and exciting ways of attracting younger audiences to the theatres, and hence they are responsible for the decline in the theatre industry.

The Quebec theatre industry is facing massive competition from other forms of arts such as singing, dance, circus arts, and music. According to reports, the competition is mainly regarding the number of young audiences that artwork can attract. The arrival of other forms of entertainment such as instant-video streaming services has made the competition even more difficult for the theatre industry. Data collected by Observatoire shows that the increase in the number of performance in theatres has been countered by a rise in the number in the production by the other art disciplines, hence increasing the level of competition for the young audience. According to reports, the number of spectators per performance has increased for the other art discipline compared to the theatre performance. The statistics show that the theatre industry is increasingly falling out of favor, especially among the young people and hence something drastic has to be done to change the trend in the theatre industry.

Even though the development of parallel arts has been blamed for the declining theatre industry in Canada, the situation is different in Quebec. According to studies, the decline in Quebec theatre can be attributed to the parallel development. The issue of English language versus French has been a big issue in the theatre industry for many years.

Achievements

The Canadian theatre was developed by amateurs but soon grew into a sophisticated source of entertainment enjoyed by people of all calibers. The Quebec theatre industry, in particular, has evolved to a create a complicated theatre that brings together two completely different worlds of Francophone and Anglophone culture together. Even though the French-speaking people dominate Quebec, the theatre industry has managed to create a blend of the two cultures to live side by side. The Quebec theatre industry has also succeeded in building massive performance centers such as the Segal Center for the Performing Arts. The development of the Segal center was part of the effort by the Quebec theatre industry to promote the English-language performing arts. The Segal center has been for performances in many art disciplines such as music, theatre, and cinema. The center has acted as incubation for aspiring actors by providing workshops, performing art courses, and camps for performers.

Dynamics of the Industry

Quebec theatre industry is mainly dominated by the French-speaking performers because the dominant language in the Quebec province is French. Currently, there are 16 French-language production companies in Canada. However, 15 of the 16 production companies are based on Quebec, an indication of the French dominance in the province of Quebec. The Quebec theatre industry is concerned with how to keep the cultural heritage of the region. The exhibitioners have sought to preserve the legacy by partnering with other English speaking providences in Canada such as New Brunswick and Ontario. The exhibitionists have also worked closely with actors from France to keep the Francophone cultural heritage and relationship alive.

Conclusion

Movie theatre has always been an essential form of entertainment in Canada. The province of Quebec is unique because of its Francophone orientation. Despite the significance of the Quebec theatre industry, the exhibitioners have recorded dwindling trends in the number of attendants, especially among the young people. The future of the theatre industry has been put to question because of competition from other forms of art such as music, songs, and instant-movie streaming services.