All eyes in Quebec are on Maurice Richard, because there is nowhere else to look. According to Patrick Roy, SVP at distrib Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm, the biopic about the legendary Montreal hockey star has received the biggest marketing campaign of any locally produced film in the history of the province. Vivafilm has invested $1.5 million in Richard’s P&A and saturated Quebec with TV, radio, transit, outdoor, print and other advertising. In comparison, it pumped $800,000 into its recent documentary hit Les Voleurs d’enfance.

‘We’re everywhere,’ says Roy. ‘We want to cover all the demographics. We think it’s going to be a movie for everybody.’

Roy says the film will open Nov. 25 in more than 100 Quebec theaters, but can’t say for certain what the final number will be. Roy says that Alliance Atlantis is still working on its strategy for Richard’s English Canada release, debating whether it will be a wide or limited release, and that March 2006 has been tentatively earmarked for Anglo consumption. He estimates that about 20% of the film is in English.

Sources close to the production indicate that, despite the fact that AA execs in English Canada have yet to see the finished product, Richard is expected to have the biggest-ever opening there for a Quebec film, playing on as many as 150 screens.

‘My feeling is that it will be bigger than normal [for a French-language film in English Canada], because ‘The Rocket’ is well known in English Canada,’ says Roy. ‘There are lots of hockey fans in English Canada, so we feel there is a public appetite for the film.’

Maurice Richard is produced by Denise Robert and Daniel Louis of Montreal’s Cinémaginaire, directed by Charles Binamé and stars Roy Dupuis. Dupuis and Binamé previously teamed for blockbuster Séraphin: Un homme et son péché in 2002.