Distribution and exhibition analyst Carole Boudreault, president of Alex Films, confirms a depressed Quebec box office for French and European movies in general in ’97.

‘Tenue correcte exigee (Alliance Vivafilm) did less than $100,000 while La belle verte (cfp) died completely, grossing less than $25,000,’ says Boudreault.

Returns for La belle verte were all the more disappointing in that the film was a follow-up to director Colline Serreau’s very successful comedy La Crise, which did close to $800,000 at the Quebec box office.

Alex reports that La Jaguar (cfp) with Jean Renaud and Patrick Bruel did less than $100,000, while Jane Campion’s Portrait of a Lady, considered a non-studio movie, also died with a total take (for both French- and English-language versions) of under $120,000.

And while a number of European theatrical releases arrive here highly recommended, especially following their European festival premieres, Boudreault says it’s important to remember good reviews and commercial success are two essentially separate issues.

‘Most of the films which won the Palme d’Or in Cannes died everywhere,’ she adds.

Year in, year out, Boudreault says film reviewers invariably criticize the more ‘commercial’ features entered in the Montreal World Film Festival’s official competition. But she says the public more often than not sees ‘the critics’ choice’ as ‘boring.’

‘The public is the real judge,’ she says. ‘They are the ones who actually pay.’

Ponette a pleasant surprise

In Quebec theaters in ’97, Bernard Tavernier’s Capitaine Conan (Compagnie France Film) took in less than $100,000 while Love, Etc. starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, grossed $60,000 with only a couple of prints in circulation.

The year’s dark horse is perhaps the tenderhearted Jacques Doillon drama Ponette (France Film), which pulled in $170,000 with only a couple of repertory (Cinema Parallele) prints.

Of course there are hits, but they aren’t necessarily accurate reflections of anyone’s national cinema, other than the majors, bien sur.

A case in point, Luc Besson’s La Cinquieme element, a French-financed studio style f/x blockbuster released by Columbia TriStar, grossed $2.3 million at the Quebec box office, including more than $1.6 million in the French market.

U.S. films nab 87% of Quebec box office

According to Alex Films data, French movies had 8% of the French-track market and 5% of the overall Quebec box office in 1996. Quebec films had 3% of the combined English and French market, while foreign films other than French titles ­ u.k., Italy, Germany, etc. ­ had 4% of the take. Movies from English Canada had about 1% of the overall take while u.s. films accounted for 84% of receipts in the French market and 87% of the total Quebec box office last year.

The difficulty in turning a profit with foreign fare is compounded by the fact that the distributor’s share of the box office is typically 40% to 45% while release costs start at $15,000 for one or two prints and quickly rise to $50,000 and $75,000 when tv advertising is added.

As for tv, Boudreault says foreign theatrical films which come up short at the box office are themselves shortchanged by Quebec broadcasters, if there is any interest at all. And pay-tv is currently buying into fewer European movies than in past years ‘because their clients like American films.’

‘And just look at Radio-Canada, they’re buying American packages,’ Boudreault adds.

As for specialty channels, Canal d offers a wide range of classic foreign titles, typically films released prior to 1991.

Still buying

Behaviour Distribution senior vp Pierre Brousseau says the company expects to acquire some half-dozen ‘high-quality’ European or foreign-language film titles in 1997/98.

Christian Larouche, executive vp, CFP Distribution, says there have been no breakouts ­ earnings of $600,000 or more -­ at the Quebec box office for any French movies in ’97.

Last year, the Quebec audience for French movies grew after a decline of several years and films such as Le Bonheur est dans le pre (Alliance Vivafilm), Beaumarchais (Alliance), Le Huitieme jour (cfp), Nelly et Monsieur Arnaud (cfp), Ridicule (cfp), Les Trois Freres (Malofilm) and Un air de famille (France Film) drew admission numbers ranging from 40,000 to over 120,000.

Larouche says he’s ‘very disappointed’ with the performance of films like Claude Berri’s historical drama Lucie Aubrac, which has a box office of $185,000 after eight weeks and 10 prints in circulation.

‘We’ll see if the fall is going to be better, especially with La verite si je mens, which is nearing five million admissions in France,’ he says.

Despite good reviews and expectations the film might earn up to $300,000 at the Quebec box office, cfp scored less than $150,000 on the comedy La Plus beau metier du monde.

cfp released close to 20 French and foreign-language features in ’96/97, but in the year ahead Larouche says the number of French and foreign releases could drop to seven or eight.

Some 40 to 50 foreign-language films are released annually in Quebec.

Quebec distributors buy foreign film rights mainly for Quebec, paying out between $50,000 and $100,000 per film. Exceptional films can go for up to $150,000.

The domestic home video market is almost non-existent so income for foreign movies comes strictly from theatrical and sales to tv, which ranges from $15,000 to a very top of $75,000. And buyers are essentially limited to Radio-Canada, Tele-Quebec and Super Ecran, Canal d and cbc to showcase older French movies.

‘Tele-Metropole and Quatre Saisons don’t want those types of films,’ says Larouche. ‘Sometimes they’ll buy one when it’s commercial. That’s why we have to be very careful when we pay more than $100,000.’

Despite cyclical results and a fear the bottom could really fall out for good, Larouche says Unifrance International’s marketing assistance program for French films released in Quebec theaters is both effective and necessary. ‘But the films have to be there,’ he says.

There is almost no distribution of European movies in the Quebec regions, aside from small audiences in Quebec City, Sherbrooke and the Gatineau (Ottawa-Hull) and virtually no German or Italian releases whats’ever.

Larouche says if new product from the Europeans looks like the ’97 crop, ‘definitely we, and I think everybody from Quebec, are going to buy fewer pictures from France. We may buy eight, maybe 10 [instead of 12 to 15 as was the case in ’96].

‘Today we want to [screen] more and more films, unlike the good old days when we were buying based on the script. I’m not the only one, everybody is waiting to see the picture.’