* After some shuffling on the Rogers Communications board of directors, company CFO Alan Horn has taken over as chair from the recently resigned Garfield Emerson. Horn’s CFO duties will be handled by Rogers EVP Bill Linton.

The one-hour bio-threat drama ReGenesis, which airs on The Movie Network and Movie Central, has added more muscle to its online effort for season two – with new content for its Extended Reality Game produced by Xenophile Media.

CRTC approves digis

Alliance Atlantis’ April 21 rollout of The Rocket on 115 screens in English Canada – and 35 more in Quebec, five months after its initial release there – represents likely the biggest-ever launch for a French-Canadian film in the rest of the country. It marks a tremendous leap of faith on behalf of the distributor, and while I admire the scale of AA’s ambition, I fear for the outcome of its gamble.

Niagara Motel: The biggest flaw in this dark comedy by Gary Yates (Seven Times Lucky) may be that it is too ambitious – crammed with too many characters and too much plot.

The decline in theatrical box office may have something to do with the DVD revolution after all. In a recent Playback online poll asking readers how they mostly watched movies, 65% of respondents indicated that it was on DVD. 25% said they still watch movies mostly in theatres, while 10% opted for TV broadcasts.

Crash home video sales numbers reported in the April 3 DVD column referred to units sold, not cash totals, as written.

Barry Kiefl is the president of Canadian Media Research, based in Ottawa. Viewing statistics in the article are based on Nielsen Media Research data and have been analyzed using a proprietary statistical model.

Originally, it was a point of pride among the makers of Weirdsville that the black comedy would be set and shot in the dark cold of winter in a small Prairie town.

Winnipeg – Prolific U.S.-based producer Patrick Markey (The Horse Whisperer, White Oleander) and director Steve Berra (7-Teen Sips) brought their new feature The Good Life to Winnipeg because it doubles well for Omaha. That, and the tax credit.

Vancouver – A young couple moves into what appears to be a perfectly nice neighborhood, only to learn that its name, Mount Pleasant, holds some serious irony. Sounds like a good idea for a movie, right? It’s actually what happened to director Ross Weber and producer Kimberley Wakefield when they moved into their new home in the titular, real-life B.C. town.

Montreal producer Denise Robert (The Rocket) is betting that William Shakespeare will continue to resonate with young audiences.