Boxoffice Pro - January 2020

BOXOFFICE PRO: A CENTURY IN EXHIBITION
INTRODUCING
A CENTURY IN EXHIBITION
> 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of
Boxoffice Pro. Though the publication you hold in your
hands has had different owners, headquarters, and even
names—it was founded in Kansas City by 18-year-old Ben
Shlyen as The Reel Journal, then called Boxoffice in 1933
and, more recently, Boxoffice Pro—it has always remained
committed to theatrical exhibition.
From the 1920s to the 2020s, Boxoffice Pro has always
had one goal: to provide knowledge and insight to those
who bring movies to the public. Radio, TV, home video, and
streaming have all been perceived as threats to the theatrical
exhibition industry over the years, but movie theaters
are still here—and so are we.
We at Boxoffice Pro are devotees of the exhibition
industry, so we couldn’t resist the excuse of a centennial to
explore our archives. What we found was not just the story
of a magazine, but the story of an industry—the debates,
the innovations, the concerns, and above all the beloved
movies. We’ll share our findings in our year-long series, “A
Century in Exhibition.”
We start the series with the 1920s, specifically 1925,
which is when reporting on this newfangled thing called
“synchronized sound” began to appear. Also affecting the
industry in the roaring ’20s—and written about extensively
in the pages of The Reel Journal and its companion regional
publications—were a construction boom and consolidation.
All three of these things—consolidation, adoption
of new-fangled amenities, and the development of new
technology—reverberate through the years and continue to
affect our industry to this day. –Rebecca Pahle
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JANUARY 2020