Box-office successes from French Canada are, for the third straight year, topmost among the nominations for the Genie Awards, which revealed the contenders for the 27th gala at CHUM Television headquarters in Toronto on Jan. 8.

Producer Denise Robert’s strategy of submitting The Rocket to the Genies in 2007 as opposed to last year – perhaps to avoid Jean-Marc Vallée’s C.R.A.Z.Y. juggernaut – might pay off as the Maurice Richard biopic leads with 13 nominations. Kevin Tierney’s domestic blockbuster Bon Cop, Bad Cop claimed 10 noms, while Un dimanche à Kigali has a surprising seven.

Of the five contenders for best motion picture, four are in the domestic box office’s top 10 for 2006. Bon Cop eclipsed Porky’s 25-year record with more than $12 million, The Rocket nearly hit the $5-million mark, and Kigali, a romance set amid the Rwandan genocide, took in $1 million, almost all of it in Quebec. The black comedy Guide de la petite vengeance managed more than $500,000.

Trailer Park Boys The Movie – which made a successful migration from TV to the big screen, taking nearly $4 million in box office – rounds out the selections for best pic. The Boys have won several Geminis, though producers did not submit the show to the most recent TV awards. Including TPB, three of the five best pic nominees are comedies.

Creator Mike Clattenburg and Robb Wells, who plays Ricky, are also in the running for their adapted screenplay, up against François Létourneau for Cheech and Gil Courtemanche and director Robert Favreau, who collaborated on Kigali, an adaptation of Courtemanche’s novel.

Screenwriter Ken Scott achieved the rare feat of dual nominations for original screenplay, capturing nods for The Rocket and Guide de la petite vengeance. Philippe Falardeau’s Congorama, Stephane Lapointe’s La Vie secrète des gens heureux and Le Secrèt de ma mere by Martin Girard and Ghyslaine Côté round out a category swept by Quebec writers.

Perhaps fittingly, Bon Cop buddies Colm Feore and Patrick Huard will go head-to-head for the lead actor prize, a category that is also dominated by Quebec performers. They face stiff competition from Roy Dupuis as Richard (The Rocket), Luc Picard (Un dimanche à Kigali) and Olivier Gourmet (Congorama). Other noms for Tierney’s blockbuster include Bruce Chun’s cinematography and Jean-François Bergeron for editing.

Bon Cop’s Érik Canuel will compete for the director’s statue against Robert Favreau for Kigali, Charles Binamé for The Rocket, Lapointe for La Vie secrète des gens heureux, and Jean-François Pouliot for Guide de la petite vengeance.

Julie Le Breton represents The Rocket in the lead actress category, and will vie with Ginette Reno for Le Secrèt de ma mere, Fatou N’Diaye for Un dimanche à Kigali, Jodelle Ferland for Terry Gilliam’s Tideland and Sigourney Weaver for Snow Cake.

Of 15 eligible categories, The Rocket was only shut out in music and supporting actress.

Julia Kwan’s feature film debut, Eve & the Fire Horse, garnered five nominations, including art direction for May-Ann Liu and Athena Wong, Sandy Buck’s costume design, Chan Chit Man Lester for supporting actor, Vivian Wu for supporting actress and Daniel Pellerin, Gashtaseb Ariana, and Jeff Carter for sound.

Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television chair Paul Gratton was enthusiastic about the crop of nominees, but he ended his announcement with a hopeful remark for a speedy resolution to the ‘unprecedented’ ACTRA strike, sure to be the elephant in the room if it lingers until the gala night on Feb. 13.

Live! At the Genies will be hosted by Citytv/Star!’s Larysa Harapyn, Dina Pugliese, Husein Madhavji and Liz West. CHUM’s Quebec music specialty MusiMax will air Le Gala des Prix Génie, hosted by Chéli Sauvé-Castonguay and Marie-Josée Rivard.

Academy president and CEO Maria Topalovich noted in a statement that CHUM will follow the same ‘schmooze-style’ format as last year in an effort ‘to bring an intimacy to the awards that’s not seen that often by the public,’ airing Live! At the Genies immediately following the sit-down awards ceremony.

Broadcast on Citytv stations, Star! and Bravo!, the caster will look to build on last year’s debut of the youth-targeted one-hour special, which generated only 34,000 viewers combined in the Ontario, Vancouver and Calgary markets. In contrast, CHUM’s presentation of the 90-minute awards show two years ago attracted 314,000 viewers.

www.genieawards.ca