The hunt is over. Maple Pictures has at long last snagged Disney’s Miramax Films via an output deal that will see the distributor release the U.S. studio’s titles in Canada.

‘We’ve been pursuing Miramax for a very long time,’ Maple co-president Laurie May told Playback Daily on news of the long-awaited distribution pact, the terms of which remain confidential.

Maple’s market opening came last year when Miramax, now without Harvey and Bob Weinstein, ended its previous distribution deal with Alliance Films that began in 1994.

As Miramax entertained overtures from rival Canadian distributors including Entertainment One, it had Maple release the Brideshead Revisited adaptation into local multiplexes and help tout Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Maple did not release Fernando Meirelles’ Blindness into Canadian theaters this past weekend, as that title remained with Alliance Films as part of its earlier agreement.

Maple clearly impressed with its dry run. ‘We have been deeply impressed with their skill in handling films in Canada, and we are proud to partner with one of the fastest-growing, most diversified and savviest distributors in Canada to maximize our own growth,’ Miramax president Daniel Battsek said in a statement Monday.

May repaid the compliment, playing up the quality of Maple’s latest catch: ‘Miramax is one of the most respected companies worldwide for filmed entertainment. They just have immaculate taste in filmmaking, they are incredibly seasoned professionals, and they’ve struck that perfect balance between critical success and commercial appeal.’

Maple will release all Miramax titles in Canada on all platforms, beginning with John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt, the Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman-starrer due out in December, Mark Herman’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and Happy-Go-Lucky.

Maple currently releases between 25 and 30 titles annually. May declined to put a figure on the number of titles it expects to add to its pipeline via Miramax.

But under Battsek and with backing from Disney, Miramax is currently making from eight to 10 movies annually, with budgets topping $20 million. Miramax produces half of those titles, and acquires the remaining half.

Recent critical and commercial successes for Miramax include Ethan and Joel Coen’s No Country for Old Men, Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and the Helen Mirren-starrer The Queen, which Miramax co-financed and released.

The signing comes a month after Maple lured former Miramax exec Jim Sherry to join up as co-president alongside May.