Montreal: Data from exhibition consultancy Alex Films indicates Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm was the theatrical market leader in Quebec for the period Jan. 1 to June 30. aav had a 19% share of the market, distributing 47 films for total receipts of $11.8 million. Fox ranked second with a 16% share on 14 films and earnings of $10.1 million, followed by Universal (12 films for a 14% share), wb (13 films and a 12% share), Canadian distrib Lions Gate Films with earnings of $5.4 million (18 films and a 9% share, and Columbia, which grossed $5.3 million on 17 releases for an 8% share.

Others in the mix include Buena Vista ($4.7 million/12 films), Paramount ($3.5 million/12 films), DreamWorks ($2.3 million/six films) and mgm ($972,671/five films). Canadian distrib Behaviour Distribution, recently sold to Industry Entertainment, released 17 films for a total box office take of $838,413 in the period, while Film Tonic released five films for $786,636 in receipts. Both Behaviour and Tonic had a 1% share of the market.

Total theatrical receipts for the 213 films released in Quebec in the six-month period were $63.4 million.

In ’98, aav releases earned $19.6 million at the box office, second only to Paramount. aav had a 15% share of the $127 million in total ’98 Quebec box office.

And while aav has leveraged its Miramax and New Line franchises, both renewed this fall through to 2005 and 2002, respectively, at the box office, a growing share of revenue is now coming from homegrown Quebec movies.

Quebec movie slate

aav president Guy Gagnon says the distrib has invested $5.9 million in Canadian and selected international rights in seven new movies, including the Denise Filiatreault comedy Laura Cadieux…la suite (produced by Cinemaginaire International), Denys Arcand’s dark contemporary comedy 15 Moments (Cinemaginaire/Serendipity Point Films), the Patrice Leconte historical drama La Veuve de St-Pierre (Cinemaginaire/Epithete), and the $3.5-million Gabriel Pelletier comedy La Vie apres l’amour (Max Films).

Other new Canadian titles include the Denis Villeneuve drama Maelstrom (Max), the Jean-Philippe Duval comedy Matroni et Moi (Max), and Charles Biname’s La Beaute de Pandore (Cite-Amerique), slated for a February 2000 release.

The first Cadieux movie, C’t’a ton tour, Laura Cadieux, earned $2.2 million at the box office and Gagnon expects the $4-million sequel to do as well, or better.

aav holds international rights to all the films except for La Veuve, coproduced with France, and La Beaute de Pandore.

Gagnon says the comedy Matroni et Moi will get a 40- to 50-print release and a solid $400,000 p&a budget for its Oct. 9 release. Yet another comedy, Laura Cadieux…la suite is slated to take on the major studios’ Christmas fare with an even bigger marketing budget, as high as $600,000, and a 50- to 60-screen release.

Just wrapped, La Vie stars Michel Cote and Sylvie Leonard and is pegged for a major 80- to 90-screen release across Quebec in July 2000.

Gagnon says he’s hoping the Leconte and Arcand films will premier at Cannes.

In the 12-month period ending March 31, aav had total sales of $27.8 million, including $4.3 million from tv, $7.9 million in theatrical, and $15.6 million from rental and sell-through video sales. The company spent $4.5 million in tv, radio and print advertising and another $1.9 million in dubbing costs.

Foreign-language films

With a handful of exceptions, foreign-language European releases continue to do slow business at the Quebec box office, and Gagnon says if the price is too high, Quebec distribs are prepared to pass.

In ’99, only two French movies topped the $1-million mark at the box office – the big-budget family adventure Asterix et Obelix (Lions Gate Films), in the $1.7 million range, and Francois Veber’s Le Diner des Cons (Lions Gate), which has earned $1.4 million. According to Lions Gate, the last French film to top the $1-million barrier here was Indochine, seven years ago.

The big exception for foreign-language product is, of course, last year’s Alliance Atlantis release of multiple Oscar and Cannes festival winner La Vie est belle, which pulled in an unprecedented $3.4 million in Quebec alone, says Gagnon.

‘Often they [foreign-language movies] only do $100,000 and it’s very rare they break half a million,’ says Michele Laroche, an exec with distrib Lions Gate in Montreal.

In European films, Vivafilm has placed its hopes for the second half of ’99 on Regis Wargnier’s historical epic Est-Quest, projected to do $500,000 or more; Diane Kurys’ Les Enfants du siecle; Catherine Breillat’s shocking sex-exploration film Romance; and Bertrand Tavernier’s touching tale of an older headmaster facing difficult times, Ca commence aujourd’hui, among others.

aav has some 45 films slated for release in the next six months. Among indie highlights: Istvan Szabo’s Sunshine, coproduced by Serendipity Point Films of Toronto; Atom Egoyan’s Felicia’s Journey, also from Serendipity; Happy Texas, which earned great reviews at this year’s Montreal World Film Festival; Guinevere, starring Canadian actress Sarah Polley; Roman Polanski’s highly anticipated Ninth Gate; and American horror meister Wes Craven’s first foray out of genre, The Music of My Heart.

Film Tonic has the new Patrice Leconte movie La Fille sur le pont, while Lions Gate is betting on French movie star Gerard Depardieu’s codirecting debut, Pont entre deux rives, a modestly budgeted romance set in Normandy circa 1962.

Distrib Motion International will release the Chris Menges drama l’Enquete (Canal Studio +) and Laurent Bopuhnik’s Zonzon.

Additional Alliance Atlantis movie franchises include October Films, Fineline Features, Artisan Entertainment, select Canal+ titles and the u.k.’s FilmFour.