Producers are looking for signs that the new Cineplex Galaxy will continue to play Canadian-made movies on its 1,400 screens, and the CFTPA has joined the rapidly growing line of groups looking to take a meeting with Ellis Jacob.

‘We’re looking at this as an opportunity to explore a strategy with Cineplex Galaxy to promote and screen more Canadian content,’ says cftpa president and CEO Guy Mayson. The group is looking to discuss how to build audiences.

But few observers expect the deal to have much effect, up or down, on the screen time of domestic films, noting that Cineplex and Famous Players had very similar buying patterns before they merged.

‘The challenge for Canadian film is they have to be theatrical quality and, in English Canada at least, there’s still a lot of work to be done,’ says Ted East.