Early in 1950 the Board of Trade requested details of production costs, distributors’ receipts and producers’ shares from the four main production groups: the Rank Organisation, British Lion Film Corporation, the Associated British Picture Corporation and Ealing Studios. There were some differences in how the groups presented the information: for example, Rank included both domestic and overseas receipts, whereas the others presented receipts for the home market only.

THE RANK ORGANISATION

Source: TNA BT 64/4490: J. Arthur Rank Organisation Ltd: Memorandum regarding information required by the Board of Trade regarding Film Production and Distribution, Schedule VI. The films included in the schedule were (a) the most profitable film for each quarter (or the least unprofitable where no film made a profit), (b) the closest film to the average for the quarter, and (c) the biggest loss-maker per quarter. The ‘UK receipts’ listed here are the producers’ shares from the home market, ‘overseas receipts’ are the producers’ shares from other markets. The combined producer's share must be more than the cost of production for the film to have made a profit.

BRITISH LION FILM CORPORATION

Source: TNA BT 64/4493: British First Feature Films Released Through British Lion Film Corporation Ltd during 30 months to 30 June 1949. ‘UK revenues’ here refer to the distributor's gross receipts: no overseas revenues were included.

ASSOCIATED BRITISH PICTURE CORPORATION

Source: BT 64/4492: Associated British Pathé: UK Distribution: Analysis of contracts played to 1 April 1950. ‘UK revenues’ are the distributor's gross receipts.

EALING STUDIOS

Source: BT 64/4491: Ealing Studios Ltd: Collection of information about overhead costs and earnings of British films. The ‘UK receipts’ refer to distributor's gross receipts.