Montreal: The third installment of the hugely successful Melenny Productions movie franchise Les Boys wraps Dec. 22 after 33 days of filming. The film’s producer is Richard Goudreau and the director is Louis Saia.

Les Boys i & ii pulled in a double Golden Reel win, earning $12 million at the Quebec box office over the past three years. But Melenny’s vp production Marie-Claude Poulin says financing LB3 the $4.5-million film has been a pain, with some funders acting as if all those box-office dollars had gone right into the producer’s pocket.

Next month’s shooting schedule concludes with lots of on-ice action at the Colisee in suburban Laval.

As Les Boys iii opens, team coach and bar owner Stan, played by Remy Girard, returns to Montreal after an extended stay in France. This time the story has much to do with the negative effects of money on the sporting tradition.

Lead writers are Rene Brisebois, Saia and Francois Camirand.

Returning Boys skaters are Marc Messier, Patrick Huard, Serge Theriault, Paul Houde, Roc Lafortune and rocker Eric Lapointe, joined by triple MetroStar winner Rita Lafontaine and this year’s acct Grand Prix winner Janine Sutto.

Original music is by Jerry DeVilliers. Gaetan Huot is picture editor, Caroline Grise is post-supervisor and Global Vision is handling post and transfer. Casting is by Andrea Kenyon and Associates.

Boys iii investors include Telefilm Canada, sodec, Cogeco (Productions Carrefour), Radio-Canada (with both licence and equity participation), Super Ecran (equity) and Melenny. A Christmas 2001 release is planned.

Poulin, former gap-financing manager at fidec, says Melenny is prepping the $5-million thriller *69 for next spring. The film is a Canada/u.k. coproduction with Goldcrest of London, Eng., with Fusion International of l.a. picking up international rights.

The story, from Pierre Billon and producer Goudreau, keys on mysterious murder threats made against a young female employee at an mtv-style music station.

‘The plan is to shoot three in a row, all thriller and action-style films in the same budget range,’ says Poulin. ‘We are not doing service shoots, all the development is being dome here at Melenny.’

The house is also developing La Corriveau, based on a Billon script. The idea is to coproduce for the international market on a budget of $18 million. The French producer is Jacques Eric Strauss.

Boys iii investors include Telefilm Canada, sodec, Cogeco (Productions Carrefour), Radio-Canada (with both licence and equity participation), Super Ecran (equity) and Melenny. A Christmas 2001 release is planned.

*La Fete teams with T.O. partners

‘Growing up is tough, especially when you’re dead’ is the working tag line for Vampire High, a day-and-night tale of teen vamps attending night school and their preppy boarding-school counterparts.

The 26 half-hour series is being produced by La Fete Productions and Microtainment Plus of Toronto. Ina Fichman (Vers une terre promise), Mark Shekter (Downtown Angels) and Garry Blye are exec producers. Shekter created the series and Fichman is producing.

The Super 16mm shoot goes for 110 days from Nov. 13 to the end of April at the Cine Cite Montreal studios in St-Hubert.

Joining the hordes of teen talent are actors David McIlwraith as the school’s principal, Jeff Roop as one of the vamp leads and Meghan Ory as a day school preppy. Casting is by Nadia Rona of Elite Productions.

Daniel Jobin (Nuit de Noces) is the dop, Claire Nadon is the costume designer and Jean-Francois Comeau is the production designer.

Team Entertainment of the u.s. has put up 50% of the $11-million budget and has u.s. and international rights. Distribution La Fete has rights to all French-track territories, and a Canadian broadcast sale is in negotiation, says Fichman.

Fichman and Anne Pick (The Bunny Ears) of Toronto’s Wombat Productions are exec producers on the new 13 half-hour docusoap Firestation No. 2. It wraps towards the end of the month after two months of intense location shooting in a Toronto fire station. The $1.2-million series is licensed by Discovery Canada, Canal z and wtn, with funding support from Telefilm Canada and the Rogers Cable Network Fund.

Fichman is in development on several children’s and extended doc projects, including The Last Princess, a live-action youth series to be coproduced with Winklemania and itv of the u.k..

*Danny in the Sky

Halfway into filming on Denis Langlois’ second feature, Danny in the Sky, Productions Castor & Pollux producer Bertrand Lachance was thrilled with the rushes. The movie is being shot in Super 16 by dop Stefan Ivanov (Full Blast, Genealogie d’un crime).

The $900,000 film is scripted by Langlois (L’Escorte) and Lachance, with principal photography lasting 22 days from Oct. 31 to Dec.1.

Cast, all between the ages of 18 and 21, includes newscomers Thierry Pepin as Danny, Veronique Jenkins, Daniel Lortie, Caroline Portelance and Jessica Beaulieu. Eric Cabana (Sous le signe du lion) and Barbara Ulrich (Le Chat dans le sac) are also featured.

In this story, Danny, the son of a top model mom who died of a drug overdose and a gay dad, decides to follow in his mother’s footsteps and aim for catwalk glory. Of course, things aren’t as they appear in the fashion world, and the hopeful Danny is promptly exposed to the scene’s nastier side.

‘It’s a sexy film but with a social conscience,’ says Lachance. ‘It’s about the superficiality of image, and at the same time a film about intolerance, because people are judged on their appearance.’

Funding sources include sodec, Conseil des Arts du Canada, Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Quebec, Super Ecran and TMN-The Movie Network, distrib Cinema Libre – which did a great job on Michel Jette’s recently released biker movie Hochelaga – and indie Montreal movie co-operative Main Film. Lachance says he hasn’t the slightest idea why Telefilm Canada turned down the project three times, but says he’ll pursue the agency for post and marketing support.

Craft credits go to art director Christian Legare, sound recordist Martyne Morin, costume designer Corinne Montpetit and pm Suzanne Gauthier. Cast and crew have accepted 20% pay deferrals, representing $100,000. Lachance hopes interested parties will check out the film’s website – www.dannyinthe sky.com.

L’Escorte, Langlois’ first feature, was picked up for distribution on the gay specialty circuit in the u.s. Cinema Libre will release Danny in the Sky next fall.

*K2’s holiday blitz and a thriller from Canuel

Gabriel Pelletier’s vamp comedy sequel Karmina II: L’Enfer de Chabot wraps principal photography Dec.1. Distrib Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm plans a major release next summer, but in the short term has produced some 300 teasers and banners for theatres for the upcoming holiday season.

Scripted by Gabriel Pelletier (La Vie Apres l’Amour) and lead actor Yves Pelletier and produced on a budget of close to $4 million by Nicole Robert of Go Films, K2 stars Gildor Roy, Sylvie Leonard, Isabelle Cyr, Julien Poulin (Elvis Gratton ii) and Michel Courtemanche (The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne).

Taking a cue from the Hollywood marketing machine, aav’s vp, acquisitions Patrick Roy says K2 is targeted right at teens, the overwhelming demographic at movie multiplexes.

aav has also picked up the new Erik Canuel thriller La Loi du Cochon. It’s a low-budget, $1.1-million, Fargo-esque kind of tale about two sisters caught up in the criminalized pot-growing business. Cochon is Canuel’s (The Hunger) first feature and is being shot film-style in dv-pal format for transfer to 35mm.

The writer is Joanne Arseneau (Tag, Le Dernier Souffle). Producers are Jacques Bonin and Jacques Blain. The film is a coproduction between Films Vision 4 and Cirrus Productions, and has been licensed by Groupe tva.

aav will also distribute Denis Chouinard’s dramatic road movie about new beginnings, L’Ange de Goudron (Tar Angel). The $4-million feature is in early prep and is produced by Roger Frappier and Luc Vandal of Max Films as part of the house’s exclusive output and financing deal with aav.

‘We’ll continue to support film auteur projects, but we want them to have some international potential,’ says Roy.

Vivafilm has also picked up director/writer Francis Leclerc’s movie debut Jeune Fille a la Fenetre, a drama set in the 1920s about a young country woman whose love of music leads her to the big city. The $2-million film is produced by Barbara Shrier of Palomar. The film was shot this fall, much of it in Quebec City, with pickups slated for early winter.

*Tragedy in the Alps

Earlier this month, ace director Christian Duguay was a witness to an avalanche in Switzerland which claimed the life of friend and German producer Werner Koenig.

According to an ap wire story out of Europe, the two men had been scouting locations in the Alps for the upcoming action film The Extremists. Koenig, 36, and his Munich-based company, Helkon Media, were slated to coproduce in association with Signature Films of l.a. Duguay saw the Nov. 12 tragedy unfold from a helicopter while he was filming Koenig skiing down the mountainside.

Duguay (Joan of Arc, Million Dollar Babies) has many projects on the go, including an Alliance Atlantis Communications-backed project with producer Denis Heroux and a movie adaptation of the Euro ‘bande dessine’ series Corto Maltese, slated to film in Spain.

No word at press time as to his continued involvement in The Extremists.

Helkon’s activties in Canada have included coproducing the CineGroupe 3D animation movie Heavy Metal 2000 and financing/distributing the big-budget John McTiernan/mgm action film Rollerball, which wrapped Nov. 18 after many months on location in the Montreal area. *