Montreal: Three of the top-grossing Canadian films in ’99 are Quebec-produced comedy sequels, a genre the industry here continues to deliver to wide appeal. The three comedies and 27 other releases helped Quebec movies garner a more than respectable 10% of the total French-screen take at the box office last year.

Louis Saia’s comedy sequel Les Boys ii (Films Lion Gate) topped all Canadian movies at the box office in ’99 with receipts of $5.5 million.

In the race for this year’s Golden Reel Award, Les Boys ii outdistanced another comedy sequel, Pierre Falardeau’s Elvis Gratton II: Miracle a Memphis (Lions Gate), which pulled in $3.7 million, followed by Francois Girard’s The Red Violin (Film Tonic/Odeon Films), which earned close to $3 million following its November ’98 release.

The fourth- and fifth-ranked movies in ’99 are David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Distribution), which grossed $1.36 million following a major p&a effort, and Denise Filiatrault’s comedy sequel Laura Cadieux…la suite (Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm), which earned $892,000, but only opened Dec. 3, 1999.

The data includes receipts from films released in late ’98 and is from largely complete national box-office returns compiled by Montreal distribution and exhibition consultant Alex Films.

Rounding out the top seven box-office performers in ’99 are Lord Richard Attenborough’s Grey Owl (Remstar Distribution), which took in a modest $580,000 despite a $1-million p&a effort claimed by Remstar, and Richard Ciupka’s suspense thriller Le Dernier Souffle (Lions Gate), which earned $560,000.

Among films which faired poorly at the box office in ’99 are Don McKellar’s Last Night and Atom Egoyan’s Felicia’s Journey (aac), the latter with receipts of $180,000. A challenging movie which received mixed reviews across the country, Felicia’s Journey is certainly a step back from Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter, which earned more than $1 million in ’98.

Alex Films president Carole Boudreault opines the vast majority of filmmakers in the English market continue to deliver movies with little or no mass appeal.

‘Based on these numbers, Quebec films are doing great although they are [released] only in French in Quebec,’ she says. ‘It looks like the [English] Canadians are not yet making movies for the people. Directors are largely making movies for themselves, or for a little group.’

It’s understood national cinemas produce different types or genres of feature films, adds Boudreault, but auteur films have to be complemented by more commercial or wide-release titles, ‘films that people want to see,’ she says.

AAV tops market-share

In the Quebec theatrical market, aav topped all distributors in ’99 with a 15% market share of the $142.2 million in total receipts, based on data from Alex Films.

aav released 93 films in ’99, among them Laura Cadieux…la suite, eXistenZ, The Blair Witch Project and Austin Powers – The Spy Who Shagged Me, six more than in ’98 when the distrib also topped this market with a 15% share.

Warner Bros. (The Matrix) ranked second in ’99 with 25 films and 14% of box office receipts, followed by Buena Vista/Disney (The Sixth Sense, Toy Story 2) with 23 films for a 13% market share; Universal (The Mummy), 23 films and a 12% share; and Fox (Star Wars Episode 1 The Phantom Menace, the top-ranked film in Quebec in ’99 with $7.8 million in receipts), 22 films for an 11% share.

In the Quebec market, aav distributes titles from subsidiary Odeon Films as well as original Quebec acquisitions and movies from New Line, Fine Line Features, Artisan, Miramax and others.

Alex Films’ ranking for other distribs in this market in ’99 includes Columbia (29 films for a 9% share), followed by Paramount (19 films for an 8.2% market share).

Films Lions Gate continued to distinguish itself among Canadian distribs in ’99. The company released 34 films – virtually all French-track titles from Quebec and France – for a 7.8% market share. Lions Gate had a 7% share in ’98.

mgm released nine films for a 4.2% market share and DreamWorks released nine films for a 3.7% share. Among other Canadian distributors, Behaviour Distribution (whose assets have been acquired by Seville Pictures) released 20 films for a 0.7% share in ’99, while Film Tonic released 10 films, also for a 0.7% share.

Other Canadian distribs, including Motion International, Blackwatch Distribution, Remstar Distribution and France Film/Equinox, released a total of 74 movies last year for a 2% share of the box office.

Fifty-four films from France took in 6% of the French-market box office, or $5.5 million, in ’99, while 28 Canadian (non-Quebec) releases took in $1.5 million or 2% on the French side. Canadian fare had 1% of the total (English and French) box office in Quebec last year, representing a take of $1.9 million.

Sixty-seven foreign films, other than films from France, pulled in 8% of the French screen total, or $7.3 million, and 210 American movies captured 75% of the French market receipts, or $72.6 million. English and French-track screens combined, the u.s. share rose to 80% or $114.2 million.

Alex Films tracked 389 films (390 releases including one film released by two different distribs) on more than 600 commercial screens in Quebec last year, including 324 new ’99 releases. The balance of tracked titles were released in late ’98.