In Canada as in the rest of the world, the box office broke records in 2009, bringing in just over $1 billion on the strength of 3D, sequels and non-traditional titles. Earnings were up 9% versus 2008, which clocked in at $920 million.

Data from the Motion Picture Theatre Associations of Canada show Warner Bros. and Sony each with 15% of the market share in Canada, followed by Fox and Paramount with roughly 13% each. Alliance Films was first among Canadian-owned distributors with 12.7%, followed by E1 Entertainment with 5.5% and Maple Pictures with 2.9%.

Among the top performers of the year were Paramount’s sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with $34.2 million in Canada, while Fox’s 3D blockbuster Avatar has climbed to roughly $38 million ($24 million of that in 2009) since its release Dec. 18.

Mark Slone, SVP of Alliance, says 3D technology has brought people into cinemas in a significant way. He notes that exhibitors added many 3D screens to meet the demand of Avatar. ‘The spin-off value is there are now that many more 3D screens, which means more opportunities to bring those films into the market, meaning more people coming in and revisiting theaters,’ he says.

Cineplex says it nearly doubled the number of locations where it installed digital or 3D technology in 2009. Canada’s largest exhibitor added 106 digital projectors to its circuit, with 100 3D systems added to those projectors.

Other popular 3D titles in 2009 were the animated Ice Age 3, Up and Alliance’s Coraline, which yielded $6.6 million.

Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds was Alliance’s top performer of 2009 with $16 million, an example of a ‘non-formulaic’ hit, according to Slone, while Quebec smash De père en flic nabbed third place with over $10 million in la belle province alone.

‘When a Quebec film really breaks out, it allows Quebec to earn well above its weight class… more than the per-capita share of population would suggest,’ says Slone, adding that De père was a big reason for Alliance’s success in 2009.

E1 also had one of the biggest hits of the year with New Moon, the second film in the Twilight franchise, earning over $27 million, while Maple’s top performer was the quirky satire Men Who Stare at Goats, raking in $3.4 million in Canada.