Welcome to the latest installment in the never-ending struggle to sell English-Canadian films to English Canadians.

The latest contender is TVA Films’ Fido, Andrew Currie’s satirical zombie flick about a boy and his undead pet. The film arrived as the next great white hope for the flagging English-Canadian cinema, but two weekends into its run, the film had taken in only $210,000 on around 70 screens, with a per-screen average of $2,500 in week one and a very weak $685 in its second weekend.

Compare that with the Quebec hit Ma fille, mon ange, which recently surpassed the $2.5-million mark after five weeks, having opened on 90 screens. Of course, you can’t really compare the film business in Quebec with that in the rest of the country – and Fido’s numbers are nothing to sneeze at for your average English-Canadian movie – but they are very disappointing.

When examining a film’s performance, you have to look first at the product. In this case, is the product there? Yes, it is. The film is a hoot as it sends up horror movies, Douglas Sirk weepies and Lassie. On a $10.7-million budget, the production values are maximized, the film’s period details brought to life in a glorious Technicolor glow. Fido’s premise – that in a 1950s society families keep zombies as house pets to perform all manner of domestic duties – is cleverly conceived and deployed. The cast, which includes a heavily made-up Billy Connolly and Vancouver native Carrie-Anne Moss, is world-class. One could quibble about a third-act letdown, but the film still has much to recommend it.

And the zombie genre has proven its commercial appeal in recent years, as illustrated by Dawn of the Dead (reported US$102 million worldwide theatrical gross), 28 Days Later (US$82 million), and Shaun of the Dead (US$30 million).

So why, then, has Fido wiped out on home ice?

TVA has certainly shown the best of intentions with its $2-million promotional push – one that most Canadian producers would envy, on par as it was with what TVA spends on U.S. releases such as Because I Said So, which made $3.6 million for the distrib. The Fido media buy included print, airtime on CBC, The Comedy Network, Teletoon, Showcase, CHUM’s Much stations and regional spots, as well as a web buy with MSN Hotmail and AOL Instant Messenger.

But what the likes of Because I Said So had that Fido didn’t was a day-and-date release with its U.S. distrib. Down south, Lionsgate has opted for a platform release of Fido starting in New York and L.A. on June 15. In our culture that is so susceptible to Hollywood hype, some U.S.-driven promotion would have perhaps given the film the added boost it needed. But TVA doesn’t have access to screens here like Lionsgate does in the U.S., and there’s no way Canuck exhibitors would have given Fido the support in June – when Shrek 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End are crowding screens – that they did in March.

But Fido got blasted by a blockbuster nonetheless. Much of the noise TVA was making got drowned out by the million-strong army of Warner Bros.’ Montreal-shot 300, which, in its second week, took in $5 million on more than 300 Canadian screens. Although the two films are dramatically different, 300 possibly stole away some potential moviegoers. 

Another commercial impediment – and this is artistically actually one of the film’s strengths – is that it falls between genres: not quite gory enough for the younger crowd, and yet not quite arty enough for an older demographic. And satire can be a very tough sell, especially in the suburbs, where the film has been a particular flop.

But don’t feel too bad for Fido. Despite all these setbacks, quality will out. The well-reviewed festival fave has been sold by Lionsgate in 38 territories, and its box-office run around the world can only help build more awareness back home in time for TVA’s home video release here.

But if the film does become a hit abroad, it will be a shame that Canuck ticket buyers didn’t embrace it first.