It was generally a healthy year for theatrical distributors in English Canada, according to the country’s leading distribution companies. C/FP Distribution had a very strong 1993 with theatrical receipts totaling over $12 million, according to Karen Rosenbaum, general sales manager.

The distributor’s Canadian product performed poorly; however, its U.S. independent releases did extremely well. c/fp pulled in $5.87 million on The Crying Game alone. Strictly Ballroom brought in $1.134 million, Enchanted April grossed $894,000, and Like Water For Chocolate made $1.078 million last year. Hellraiser and Tom and Jerry, pulled in $440,000 and $534,000 respectively. The company is also expecting a strong 1994. Jane Campion’s The Piano has already grossed $3.5 million.

Tony Cianciotta, vice-president of Alliance Releasing, says most of his company’s films averaged between $400,000 and $800,000. Much Ado About Nothing performed well, grossing $1.5 million. Orlando brought in $700,000 and The Wedding Banquet pulled in approximately $500,000.

Paris, France was the top English-language Canadian film released by Alliance. To date, it has grossed over $250,000 in Canada, says Cianciotta. ‘Overall, the marketplace was very crowded and it limited us,’ he says. Although the company had some very good quality pictures, it didn’t have any with runs like last year’s The Player.

Alliance has beefed up its distribution efforts, adding two new distribution arms in the last year – Alliance Classics and Le Monde. Cianciotta says Alliance’s release strategy will remain the same, but ‘we’ll have more manpower to dedicate more hours to the campaigns.’

In Quebec, two of the three leading distributors point to 1993 as a difficult year in theaters and in general, with an overall decline in the 10%-20% range compared to the previous year.

Not great

At Alliance Vivafilm, vice-president marketing and development Pierre Brousseau says, ‘1993 was not a great year. Business was middling at best, which is why we’re looking forward to a much stronger performance in 1994.’

Of course there were high points for Vivafilm. George Mihalka’s French-language comedy La Florida topped all Canadian films at the box office in 1993, earning $1.6 million from mid-March through to September, and was crowned winner of this year’s Golden Reel Award.

Vivafilm’s top foreign-language performers were Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Bleu, the first of a trilogy from the Polish director. It earned close to $500,000 in five months, and with the release of Blanc and Rouge in 1994, Bleu will ultimately be rereleased for added revenues.

Vivafilm’s hopes for 1994 include Mike Leigh’s Naked and Michael Apted’s Blink.

Lea Pool’s latest, Mouvements du desir, opened the Quebec Rendez-vous festival to strong reviews earlier this month. On five screens, it had an opening weekend box office of more than $15,000. Vivafilm also has high hopes for Charles Biname’s C’etait le 12 du 12 et Chili avait les bleus, and Robert Lepage’s Le Confessionel, a feature which will go into production in April and could be distributed by Christmas.

Malofilm Distribution president Yves Dion reports that ‘business was substantially good last year, an increase of at least 20%.’

Dion says the company signed a number of new distribution agreements, mainly with u.s. partners, and the increase was a general reflection of Malofilm’s renewed activity in all spheres.

Malofilm’s top Canadian performer in 1993 was Jacques Dorfmann’s Agaguk/Shadow of the Wolf, which earned $1.2 million in close to four months across Canada, almost $800,000 in the Quebec market alone.

The $32 million arctic adventure coproduction was launched at a gala United Nations screening in mid-December 1992 and hit theaters in Quebec in early February.

Paul Shapiro’s The Lotus Eaters did about $30,000 nationally. ‘The film did not perform, (the figures) were very insignificant,’ says Dion. ‘However, we had some theatrical success with European hits.’

Top titles include La Crise, $600,000 in just under 40 weeks; Ma saison preferee, $250,00 in three months; Max et Jeremie, $150,000; and the zany Dutch comedy Les Lavigueurs, with about $500,000 at the Quebec box office.

In 1994, Malofilm will distribute the Michel Poulette comedy Louis 19 and Andy Morahan’s Highlander iii: The Magician. Both films will receive major launches.

At c/fp, vice-president Christian Larouche says business declined by about 20% in 1993, in theaters and in general.

Paule Baillargeon’s Le Sexe des etoiles pulled in a surprising $355,000, while Michel Langlois’ Cap Tourmente family drama earned about $110,000 in theaters.

Says Larouche: ‘We’re very pleased with Le Sexe des etoiles. With this kind of performance for a difficult film, it’s like hitting $1 million with a commercial movie. But we were very disappointed with Cap Tourmente.’

Les Visiteurs

Top French-track performers at c/fp were Jean Marie Poira’s Les Visiteurs, with earnings of approximately $700,000 in 35 weeks, and Claude Berri’s expensive historical blockbuster Germinal, with $510,000 after 17 weeks and still playing.

Canadian films slated for release by c/fp this year include John Hamilton’s The Myth of the Male Orgasm, set for a possible spring release, and Pierre Falardeau’s Octobre. Larouche says Falardeau’s controversial flq thriller will be given a major release come October.

At Allegro Films Distribution, at least two Canadian films were launched in theaters in 1993: Roger Cantin’s Matusalem and Francois Bouvier’s critically acclaimed feature Les pots casses. Les pots casses, released Sept. 24, brought in $47,000 over five weeks.

Matusalem is headed for Canadian box office glory.

It was launched on 42 screens across Quebec on Dec. 17 and had reported $358,000 in earnings by Dec. 30. It had a cumulative box office of $957,057 as of Feb. 5, and was still on 30 screens. McDonald’s Restaurants is the movie’s sponsor.

Max Films Communications president Pierre Latour says he’s more than pleased with the box office performance of Francois Girard’s award-winning film Thirty-two Short Films About Glenn Gould. As of the weekend of Feb. 4-6, with two subtitled prints, one in Montreal and the other in Quebec City, the film had cumulative earnings of $110,000. Latour says the take represents a per-screen average of close to $7,000. The film was launched in all major Canadian markets Feb. 11.

Similarly, he says opening weekend receipts of $6,000 for Micheline Lanctot’s Deux actrices at one small repertory house in Montreal is good business for a low-budget, 16mm independent Canadian film.

‘We have been extremely careful with European films,’ says Latour. ‘The costs are high and the results have been disappointing. The entire distribution scene is tough; that’s why we have decided to concentrate on our Canadian releases and acquisitions, and on our own productions.’

Top European performer for Max Films in 1993 was Tango, which grossed $180,000 in 12 weeks.

The company will release Denys Arcand’s Love and Human Remains on some 25 screens on March 18. An English-market release is expected to follow shortly after, says Latour.