Canadian film distributors are firming up their release schedules and mapping out their marketing strategies for the new year, which is marked by a couple of blockbusters, potential sleepers, a wealth of docs and domestic features looking to break through.

Alliance Atlantis Communications’ motion picture distribution group is currently raking it in with the third and last of the Lord of the Rings franchise, Return of the King, which had passed the $30 million mark by press time. The previous two films in the series each took in a staggering $50 million-plus in Canada, and it is hard to imagine AAC’s overall theatrical take being as high again in the foreseeable future once number three is done.

Other high-profile fare on AAC’s ’04 sked includes Kill Bill: Vol. 2, the second part of Quentin Tarantino’s martial arts epic, slated for a spring release. And then there’s The Great Raid, a US$70-million World-War-II flick set in the South Pacific directed by John Dahl (Rounders), set for a Feb. 13 launch.

Last year was a banner cycle for homegrown fare in Quebec, featuring such films as the sleeper comedy La Grande seduction, and this year AAC subsidiary Odeon Films will see what gets lost in the translation when that film hits English screens as Seducing Dr. Lewis (March 12). Odeon also rolls the dice that month with the $2-million Ontario-shot drama Luck, directed by Peter Wellington and starring Luke Kirby and Sarah Polley. And the company has high hopes for the $6-million AAC copro Saint Ralph (fall), about a teen boy’s unlikely bid to run the Boston marathon.

Odeon could have a quirky hit on its hands with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (March 19), cowritten by Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation) and starring Jim Carrey, who effectively revived his career with Bruce Almighty. Also noteworthy from the distrib are period adaptation Vanity Fair (May) with Reese Witherspoon and Oscar-winning U.K. director Kevin Macdonald’s Touching the Void (winter/spring), a festival fave doc about an incredible mountain-climbing misadventure.

AAC’s Quebec distrib arm, Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm, obviously hopes last year’s amazing box-office haul for local product can be duplicated, and so is backing many domestic features. Possible AAV hits include the $5.5-million biker-gang comedy Camping Sauvage (July 9), directed by and starring Guy A. Lepage, and Ordo (fall), a $4-million Cinemaginaire copro with France and Portugal, starring Marie-Josee Croze, hot off her Cannes-winning turn in Les Invasions barbares. Rounding out the year is the Alys Robi biopic Ma Vie en cinemascope (Dec. 19), directed by Denise Filiatrault and starring Pascale Bussieres. Also produced by Cinemaginaire, it should answer whether the prodco can follow up its excellent 2003.

Last June, AAV and Film Tonic firmed up an agreement that sees the former distributing the latter’s product. The deal includes Lea Pool’s $14-million jungle drama The Blue Butterfly (Feb. 20), which sees Bussieres costar with William Hurt, and the English Canada launch of Gaz Bar Blues (winter/spring), a multi-award winner at the last Montreal World Film Festival.

Equinoxe Films catapulted itself into the big leagues with the astonishing success of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and its hopes for an indie hit in ’04 are pinned to The Passion of Christ (Feb. 25), the Mel Gibson-directed religious drama that has stirred up a hornet’s nest of controversy. However, its particular brand of controversy – charges of potentially invoking anti-Semitism – may not prove as effective at putting bums in seats as the controversy related to, say, a Basic Instinct.

Documentaries proved they can also put bums in seats with Bowling for Columbine, and Mongrel Media is aiming to corner the market for other potential breakouts. Mongrel is releasing the acclaimed The Corporation (Jan. 16) by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott, Errol Morris’ political essay The Fog of War (Feb. 6) and Ron Mann’s Go Further (summer), featuring Woody Harrelson. Mongrel also has the dramas The Company (Jan. 30), directed by the ageless Robert Altman, Bad Education (fall) from Spanish Oscar winner Pedro Almodovar, and Touch of Pink (May 28), a Sienna Films copro with the U.K.

Lions Gate Films is serving up a trio of indie buzz films, including The Cooler (currently playing), Girl with a Pearl Earring (Jan. 16), starring up and comer Scarlett Johansson, and dogmatic Dane Lars von Trier’s Dogville (April 2).

On the Canuck front, Lions Gate partner Christal Films will be releasing the $5-million CHUM-branded gore-and-jiggle-fest Decoys (Feb. 27), while Lions Gate will unspool the $10-million Infinity Media Farley Mowat epic The Snow Walker (March 5). Lions Gate’s other partner TVA Films, meanwhile, is behind Canuck flicks The Saddest Music in the World (April 30), Guy Maddin’s $3.5-million retro-fantasy that caused a sensation at the Toronto International Film Festival, and the $4.5-million comedy Intern’s Diary (September), directed by Dave Thomas and starring Dave Foley and Dan Aykroyd.

Christal Films also has Je n’aime que toi (Jan. 24), directed by Claude Fournier, which stars veteran Quebec actor Michel Forget as a novelist inspired by a mysterious young prostitute.

Seville Pictures is offering up a slew of domestic features as well, including sequels Ginger Snaps II: Unleashed (Jan. 23) and Ginger Snaps III: The Beginning (April) as well as the New Brunswick-shot Piggy Bank Blues (April), starring Jane Curtin and Mary Walsh. Meanwhile, Seville has cleverly penciled in Deepa Mehta’s The Republic of Love for a Valentine’s Day weekend opening on Feb. 13. The distrib’s lineup is also crowded with European imports, mostly from France, along with the German smash hit Goodbye, Lenin! (March 5).

Meanwhile, ThinkFilm, on the heels of The Statement, has a couple of lower-budget Canuck flicks on the way, including Peter O’Brian’s Hollywood North (Jan. 30) and Sudz Sutherland’s debut TIFF-award winner Love, Sex and Eating the Bones (March 5).

Release dates, provided by the distributors, are subject to change.

Check out our complete list of films Canadian distributors are releasing in 2004 at www.playbackmag.com