Less than two weeks after its June 15 release by Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm, the French-language comedy feature Idole instantanée, from Montreal prodco Cinémaginaire, was approaching the $1-million mark. As of June 27, box-office totals were more than $950,000 from 104 screens.

Despite its unenviable 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. summer timeslot and a ratings drop between weeks one and two, CTV’s new half-hour comedy series Robson Arms – about the cohabitants of a Vancouver apartment building – is receiving better than respectable viewership.

The cumulative box office for Sabah, distributed by Mongrel Media, as of June 9, was $49,058, not $4,630, as reported in the June 20 issue of Playback.

It’s All Gone Pete Tong

The Movie Network and Movie Central are continuing their combined quest to be ‘HBO North’ with their recently announced lineup for 2005/06, putting the drama Terminal City and the B.C.-shot series Stuntdawgs in for this fall.

According to its 2004 annual report, the Independent Production Fund spent a total of $1.9 million last year, and of that, $1.76 million was allocated to series. The remaining $187,500 went to professional development. In 2003, the IPF was able to spend $2.34 million, with $2.16 million going to series and $217,000 to professional development.

The Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund spent more that $5.5 million on 37 projects last year, according to its recent annual report. This is a slight drop from spending in 2003, which totaled roughly $6 million spread over 48 projects. The decline is attributed to the 40% cut to the fund’s budget in ’03 by the crtc.

The National Film Board has inked agreements with Canada’s leading independent producers associations, the CFTPA and APFTQ, in order to encourage closer ties with independent producers and generate coproductions between them and the NFB.

Telefilm Canada wants to build bridges to Europe and has launched a three-year effort to boost cross-Atlantic cooperation on film, TV and new media projects – starting with animation in France.

The Festival du Nouveau Cinema has confirmed L’Enfant, the 2005 Cannes Palme d’Or winner from Belgium’s Dardenne brothers for its 34th edition, beginning Oct. 13.

There is good news and bad in the most recent study of global entertainment trends by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, which predicts Canada’s media market will enjoy ‘the most consistent growth’ over all other regions – at over 6% for 2005 to 2009. However, for key segments within that market such as filmed entertainment, the explosive rates of the last five years are projected to slow.

* Bruno Légaré is the new head of Telefilm Canada’s national new media sector. He was previously new media director for French operations and the Quebec region.