The two most unlikely movie blockbusters of 2004 were also the two films that most polarized audiences in the U.S. election year.

January

As unlikely as it may sound, the box office for Canadian features in 2004 moved significantly closer to Telefilm Canada’s goal of domestic productions accounting for 5% of the overall theatrical take. New statistics from Telefilm show Canuck flicks claiming 4.6% of the overall Canadian box office in 2004 as of Dec. 9, compared to 3.8% around this point in 2003.

Wayne Clarkson is already looking for a new apartment. And he will have to look fast, given that he has just over a month before he’s due at Telefilm Canada’s headquarters in Montreal, where he is now set to take over as its new executive director.

Ottawa: The talk around this town got even more political than usual when the Canadian Association of Broadcasters opened its three-day conference in late November – bringing some 600 radio and TV execs together with their small army of lobbyists, just a few blocks from the House of Commons, its minority government and the much-maligned CRTC.

It’s hard to think of CHUM Limited as being as old as 50. The company simply breathes youth. Many of its stations and shows speak primarily to the young, and the company has long been one of Canadian broadcasting’s quickest adopters of cutting-edge technology and approach.

Special Geminis for Greene, Robertson

Quebec’s production sector has announced the establishment of a nonprofit corporation to consolidate services previously done piecemeal by various different agencies and departments, as part of a three-point action plan developed to reverse the slowdown in foreign film production in the province.
The new strategy was mapped out during a full day of meetings of more than 200 members of Quebec’s film industry in downtown Montreal Nov. 29 called the Forum metropolitain de l’industrie cinematographique.

Grande Ourse was the big winner at the 2004 Prix Gemeaux, held in Montreal Nov. 27 and 28 to celebrate the best in French-language television. The drama series from Les Productions Point de mire won 12 of the 15 awards it was nominated for, including best dramatic series.

Toronto Mayor David Miller has stepped up to aid the city’s declining film and television industry with a proposal to streamline and bolster production by creating the Toronto Film Board, which he will head.

The CRTC handed almost one million extra dollars to producers in Manitoba and Alberta last month when it approved the sale of Craig Media to CHUM Limited – on the condition that the Toronto media giant put up $21.9 million in funding for independent production, the ‘.9’ of which must be spent in the Prairies.

CBC suffered a setback in its bid to air the Olympics Games in 2010 and 2012 when the federal Competition Bureau last month rejected its complaint against CTV.