The Oscars will be handed out on March 10 in a variety of categories and to nominees hailing from many countries, including Canada.
Nominees all start somewhere, whether that be a small local theatre, film school, or perhaps a minor role in a show or movie that might just eventually lead to the biggest stage of them all.
With that in mind, let’s shine the statistical spotlight on Canada, where some future winners might ply their trade!
Canadians studying film
There were 71,019 students enrolled in visual and performing arts programs in Canada during the 2021/2022 academic year. Among them, 8,001 were studying film/video and photographic arts, 5,124, drama/theatre arts and stagecraft, and 429, other visual and performing arts.
Enrolment in all these programs was down slightly compared with the previous year. Only film/video and photographic arts programs have seen an increase in students enrolled since 2009/2010, when we first started tracking the current data series.
Labour action affects job numbers and economic contribution
The film and video subdomain employed 86,314 Canadians in the third quarter of 2023, accounting for 12,077 job losses compared with the previous quarter. This was the main contributor to a 1.5% decline in the broader culture sector, down to 702,842 jobs.
Canadian workers, such as actors, makeup artists, craft services and many others who work on American-produced shows filmed in Canada, were affected by the strike action by screenwriters’ and film and televisions actors’ in Hollywood.
The film and video subdomain (-9.6%) also experienced a quarterly decrease in nominal gross domestic product, the largest decrease since the second quarter of 2020, when production was affected significantly by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rebound for movie theatres
Following pandemic-related restrictions and shutdowns, operating revenue for the motion picture theatres industry totalled $1.5 billion in 2022, up 171.4% from 2020.
Still, there were fewer places to catch a movie in Canada according to our most recent count. In December 2023, there were 730 business locations across Canada in the motion picture and video exhibition industry, which includes cinemas, drive-in theatres and film festival exhibitors. In December 2022, there were 738.
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Contact information
For more information, contact the Statistical Information Service (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).