It was a tough summer all around at the box office and Canadian-shot movies definitely felt the chill.

Between May and August there were 10 wide- or saturation-release pictures in theaters that shot most of their footage in Canada ­- including Fantastic Four, Cinderella Man and the recent Four Brothers. In total, these films earned $395.1 million at the Canuck and U.S. box office, as of mid-August.

This is down sharply from the exceptional summer of 2004 – when winners such as the B.C.-shot I, Robot and Montreal’s The Day After Tomorrow contributed to a take of $584.5 million – but closer to the traditional levels seen in 2003 and 2002, which earned $449.6 million and $307.4 million, respectively. (All figures include Canadian and U.S. receipts, compiled by Playback from Variety and Nielsen EDI.)

B.C. hosted two of the summer’s bigger hits, Herbie: Fully Loaded and Fantastic Four, plus the teen-aimed The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Fantastic Four, a tentpole release from 20th Century Fox, was Canada’s only big hit, and has the distinction of being the first Hollywood film to buck this year’s much-fretted-over downward trend at the box office. The comic book FX-travaganza pulled in a surprisingly robust $77.4 million when it opened at number one on July 8. By August, it placed number nine among the summer’s top earners, with $148.5 million.

Summer hits help boost the profile and the bragging rights of Canada’s service industry.

‘We’re very pleased Fantastic Four did so well at the box office,’ says B.C. film commissioner Susan Croome. ‘We’re also very pleased that it showcases the quality of work that B.C. crews, actors and technicians can bring to a feature film.’

B.C. has recently done very well with superhero and sci-fi projects and will have its guest X-Men 3 in theaters next May.

Herbie has earned $63.9 million, on par with Universal’s underperforming Cinderella Man and its $61 million. The Oscar-begging boxing opera shot in Toronto and Hamilton, ON in early 2004, but did not play to expectations after its June 6 release, although its per-screen average did jump slightly after five weeks thanks to a second and more female-friendly ad campaign.

Toronto, and in some cases nearby Hamilton, also hosted the romantic comedy The Perfect Man, the horrors Land of the Dead and Dark Water, and John Singleton’s revenge pic Four Brothers. None of this summer’s releases shot in Quebec, which is still deep in a production slump.

Two recent limited releases also came from Canada, though their contribution was negligible. Martin Short’s Jiminy Glick in La La Wood shot in B.C. in 2002 but earned a paltry $36,000 when it limped into, and quickly out of, theaters via distributor MGM. Samuel Goldwyn Films did somewhat better when Saint Ralph – a copro of Toronto’s Amaze Film + Television and Alliance Atlantis ­- arrived in U.S. theaters earlier this month, earning $283,000.

It should be noted that another major release, The Constant Gardener, was awaiting its Aug. 31 release as Playback went to press. The thriller shot most of its work in Kenya and the U.K., but shot some exteriors in Winnipeg in early 2004.

Most of this summer’s pictures shot in ’04 ­- a slow year for the service trade because of the high loonie and wrangling over tax credits in B.C. and Ontario.