While long-form docs rarely have wide theatrical releases, The Corporation has managed to remain among the top five grossing Canadian films at the box office since it opened Jan. 16, based largely on Ontario audiences. This despite the fact that Ontarians have had free access to the doc since commissioning broadcaster TVO started airing it in three one-hour segments Feb. 25 to record ratings. In addition, the doc has also been packaged into three one-hours for Knowledge Network, SCN and Access.

As of March 21, after eight weeks on the big screen, the almost three-hour assault on corporate culture from filmmakers Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott and Joel Bakan had grossed $885,000.

‘We’re absolutely thrilled,’ says Hussain Amarshi, president of Canadian distributor Mongrel Media. ‘It’s quite a miracle of sorts that [The Corporation] will be one of the better box-office films that we’ve had in a long time in this country, and it’s definitely on its way to grossing over $1 million at the box office.’

Mongrel started with five prints of the doc and is now up to 20. The Corporation opened in Edmonton and Calgary March 19 and premiers in Halifax April 2, with releases planned for Montreal and Quebec City April 23. Amarshi says he projects grossing between $1.2 million and $1.4 million once the film hits all its markets across Canada, and it should be released in the U.S. by late April.

‘Traditionally we’ve always believed that Canadian films will only work if they have a good release in the U.S., but that has not been the case with The Corporation, nor was it the case with the last success we had with Bollywood/Hollywood,’ explains Amarshi. ‘It goes to point out that we are a distinct country with our own culture and our own desires and that we are able to create and present films that appeal to Canadians.’

While Amarshi says Mongrel was concerned with the fact that TVO would be airing the doc while it was still in theaters, he says he was aware of its airdates well in advance. There were around six weeks of theatrical screenings in Ontario before the doc aired on the pubcaster and Mongrel still has the rest of the country to work with.

Meanwhile, The Corporation has garnered very good ratings on the small screen and, according to director of communications Ellen Cole, TVO expects to see more of the same when it airs the doc in its entirety on May 9.

In total, The Corporation has attracted 284,000 viewers to TVO. Airing the doc in three one-hour segments on Wednesday nights, with repeats on Sundays, 96,000 viewers tuned in for part one, 71,000 for part two and 117,000 for part three. According to Cole, these numbers represent a 50% increase in viewership compared to what TVO traditionally attracts in its documentary timeslots.

In keeping with its educational mandates, TVO has established a new partnership with the University of Ottawa, making The Corporation required viewing for students in the university’s international business program. In addition, the University of Western Ontario is in the process of developing an entire course based on the film. And TVO has developed an online resource site about The Corporation for educators, which had attracted 25,000 visitors as of March 12.

According to Cole, the pubcaster had wider educational initiatives in mind when it commissioned the doc.

‘Over the last three years, TVO has been developing all kinds of relationships with colleges and universities,’ says Cole. ‘Now, instead of TVO saying it is going to create a program that fits into a given course, the colleges and universities are creating courses around the type of programming that TVO is able to generate.’

For example, TVO’s Diplomatic Immunity is required viewing for students of journalism at Carleton Univerity, and York University has an online course called Hollywood Old and New, which uses TVO’s Saturday Night at the Movies as a primary resource.

The success of The Corporation in conjunction with TVO’s educational initiatives supports the findings of a recent study, which concludes that a majority of Ontario residents do not want to see TVO privatized, even if it does mean an increase in taxes.

In public consultations held throughout the province about deficit reduction, 48% of those consulted were in favor of keeping TVO a Crown corporation, with 33% in favor of privatization and 18% undecided.

It is not surprising to Cole that the demographic most in favor of privatization is the 18-24 age group, which, she says, tends not to be a significant part of TVO’s regular audience.

-www.mongrelmedia.com

-www.tvo.org

Laura Bracken