The five-year, 5% box-office goal targeted by then-heritage minister Sheila Copps in 2000 was achieved in 2005, contingent on results for the last seven weeks of the year. Problem is, the reliance on Quebec cinema to almost singlehandedly reach that goal has become even greater.

According to the most recent statistics from Telefilm Canada, indigenous productions accounted for 5.2% of the total Canadian box office in 2005 as of Nov. 11, compared to 4.6% around this time last year. Overall, returns for English-Canadian films account for a mere 1.1% of their market share, down even from 1.6% in 2004. The market share for French-Canadian films, meanwhile, rests at 26%, up from 21% last year.

These figures could be dramatically altered by the holiday release season, however, which is where Hollywood made up a lot of box-office ground one year ago, thereby lessening Canadian films’ overall market share.

Telefilm’s numbers do not take into account the recently released blockbuster Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which took in more than $14 million in Canada in its opening Nov. 18 weekend alone. And coming soon are tent-pole releases including The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Dec. 9) and King Kong (Dec. 14).

In Quebec’s corner, meanwhile, is Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm’s Maurice Richard, the biopic of the Montreal Canadiens’ all-time hero, which made approximately $600,000 in its opening Nov. 25 weekend, followed by Les Boys IV, slated for a Dec. 9 release through Christal Films. In English Canada, Deepa Mehta’s Water recently crossed the $1-million box-office threshold and continues to perform strongly.

Because of their opening dates, part or all of these films’ box office don’t figure in Telefilm’s most recent tally, and all are potential top-10 finishers for the calendar year, but they miss the accompanying year-end list due to Playback’s press date.

Whether these Hollywood and domestic films pack enough firepower to raise the overall box office – $711 million as of Nov. 11 – to the level of last year’s $910 million remains to be seen, but is a tall order. The North American box-office story for 2005 has generally been a negative one; with rare exception, the weekly take at the till has been down from one year ago. Some blame a below-average slate of films coming out of Hollywood, while others point to the exploding popularity of home video and other media as the chief cause. But remaining hot titles can reverse that trend – preliminary North American box-office numbers for the Nov. 25 weekend show a 3% uptick over one year ago, fueled by Harry Potter.

The 2005 box office for domestic productions rested at $37 million on Nov. 11, as compared to a total of $41.2 million in 2004. That figure will likely be surpassed thanks mostly to the new Quebec releases.

Topping the list of indigenous films at the local box office in 2005 so far is Jean-Marc Vallée’s surprise smash C.R.A.Z.Y., a critical and film festival darling released by TVA Films that has been submitted as Canada’s choice for consideration in the Academy Awards’ best foreign-language film category. As of Nov. 24, the film had taken in more than $6 million, almost all of it in Quebec. Whereas no French-Canadian films passed the $5-million threshold in 2004, a second one has this year – Aurore, based on the classic tale of child abuse, which has scared up $5.4 million for Vivafilm.

While the box-office superiority of Quebec films has become a given, with the province placing eight titles in the year-end top 10 Canadian films in the past couple of years, they have edged closer to a shutout this year, with nine finalists in the 12-month cycle ending Nov. 17.

As was evident in 2004, the province’s filmmakers have become increasingly adept at offering up compelling pictures in a variety of genres, as illustrated by the ensemble comedy-drama Horloge biologique ($4.3 million in box office), musical biopic Ma vie en cinémascope ($1.7 million during that period, $3.2 million total) and Les Voleurs d’enfance ($1.7 million), a harsh documentary about children under the care of the province.

The only English-Canadian film that makes the top-10 list, then, is the unexpected mega-hit White Noise, a 60/40 Canada/U.K. copro that brought in $4.5 million domestically and about US$80 million worldwide. Filmed in Vancouver with Brightlight Pictures, the supernatural thriller starring Michael Keaton would have seemed to most viewers to be Hollywood product.

For the second consecutive year, the 10 top-grossing Canadian films each drew more than $1 million, widely considered the benchmark for major box-office success. Some films managed to make $1 million but not crack the top 10, including the Canada/U.K./Hungary copro Being Julia, produced by Robert Lantos and buoyed by a best-actress Oscar nomination for Annette Bening.

And although backed completely by Hollywood’s New Line Cinema, A History of Violence, shot in and around Toronto by local director David Cronenberg, proved a major box-office success, earning more than $4 million in Canada and US$46 million internationally as of Nov. 17.

In terms of the overall Canadian box office, nothing so far this year has touched Fox’s Star Wars: Episode III ­- Revenge of the Sith, which brought in $34.6 million, $10 million ahead of the overachieving Owen Wilson/Vince Vaughn comedy Wedding Crashers, released by Alliance Atlantis.