Montreal: The Christian Duguay action film The Art of War is this year’s winner of the ACCT Golden Reel Award for top box-office performance by a Canadian film.

Distributed by TVA International and produced by Montreal’s Filmline International and producer Nicolas Clermont, The Art of War took in $4.5 million in Canada during the qualifying period, Oct. 21, 1999 to Oct. 20, 2000, beating out the year’s second best performer, Gabriel Pelletier’s romantic comedy La Vie Apres l’Amour. La Vie was launched at the peak of the high-density summer blockbuster release period, earning a cool $2.7 million for distrib Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm.

Unofficial numbers indicate other top Canadian performers in calendar 2000 were Loser, $1.7 million; MVP – Most Valuable Primate (Red Sky Entertainment), $1 million-plus; and Eye of the Beholder, $800,000, a Filmline/Behaviour suspense thriller distributed by Seville Pictures.

Other top performers in 2000 include the romance saga Sunshine (Serendipity Point/Alliance Atlantis); the biker drama Hochelaga (Cinema Libre), the comedy Laura Cadieux…la suite (Cinemaginaire/ Vivafilm); American Psycho (Lions Gate Films); the family film Grizzly Falls (Seville); and the Denys Arcand satire Stardom (Alliance Atlantis).

In terms of Canadian theatrical market share in 2000, Universal Pictures (The Grinch, Erin Brockovich) captured top spot with close to 16% of the estimated $750 million in box-office receipts, followed by Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture Distribution (Scary Movie, The Cell, La Vie) with a 14% share. Alliance Atlantis’ market share includes receipts from both Odeon Films and Montreal-based Vivafilm.

Quebec movie market

In the Quebec theatrical market, Vivafilm was the number one distributor for the second consecutive year, pulling in more than $23 million on the strength of 90 titles and a 16% share of the total $142.7 million in 2000 box-office receipts.

Universal ranked second (28 films for $20.7 million and a 14.5% share), followed by Warner Bros. (26 films, including The Perfect Storm, for $18.1 million). Next up, Buena Vista/Disney (23 films, including Gone in 60 Seconds, for $15.9 million); Columbia (24 films for $15.1 million); DreamWorks (11 films, including What Lies Beneath, for $12.5 million); Paramount (17 films for $12.2 million); and Fox (19 films, including X-Men, The Movie, for $11.6 million).

Vivafilm topped the powerful Hollywood ‘majors’ by leveraging volume, actively building promotions and growing sales by 11% in 2000 compared to ’99, when the distrib had a leading 15% share of the market, according to data compiled by distribution and exhibition specialist Alexfilms.com.

Overall, the Brian De Palma action sequel Mission Impossible 2 (Paramount), starring Tom Cruise, was the top box-office film in Quebec in 2000 with receipts of $4.46 million, edging out Gladiator (DreamWorks), which took in $4.45 million.

Among Quebec releases, Alexfilms.com reports La Vie Apres l’Amour (Max Films) at $2.7 million was the top-grossing Canadian film in 2000, followed by The Art of War, $1.4 million, and Hochelaga, $703,046.

Denis Villeneuve’s Maelstrom, still in release, represented a double success for producer Max Films and Vivafilm, ranking fourth among Canadian releases at $219,706. Stardom (Vivafilm) ranked fifth overall in Quebec with $201,998.

Among Quebec films, the surprise of the year in performance terms is Michel Jette’s Hochelaga, says Alexfilms.com president Carole Boudreault.

In 2000, Alexfilms.com reports u.s. feature films earned $121.6 million at the box office, or 85% of the $142.7 million in total sales. The 223 ‘played’ u.s. films included 187 new releases in the calendar period.

Thirty Quebec movies, including 26 new releases, captured $6.4 million, or 4% of the overall box office. Quebec films had a 7% share of the market in ’99 based on the strength of Les Boys ii, Elvis Gratton ii and Laura Cadieux…la suite.

French films (60 movies on screens, including Taxi 2) took a 4% share in 2000 while other foreign films (67 movies on screens, including Pokemon, Chicken Run and The Ninth Gate) also had a 4% share. Canadian films other than Quebecois titles earned $1.9 million for a 1% share of the Quebec box office.

Outlook in 2001

Boudreault says the outlook for Quebec features in 2001 appears positive, with two homegrown blockbusters in the pipeline – Louis Saia’s Les Boys iii (Melenny Productions), which should be out before the year-end holidays, and Gabriel Pelletier’s Karmina ii (Go Films), a teen vampire comedy slated for a wide and noisy summer release by Vivafilm.

Another title with lots of favorable prerelease buzz is Lea Pool’s saucy coming-of-age-tale Lost & Delirious (Cite-Amerique). Distrib Seville is prepping an ambitious Canada-wide release for the director’s first English-track movie. *

-www.alexfilms.com