Montreal: Three Canadian films turned in first-rate or better performances at the Quebec box office in 1997, with two others delivering respectable showings, all led by the Louis Saia comedy Les Boys, which had receipts of $2.66 million through to Dec. 31. Distributed by Films Lions Gate, Les Boys had upped its box office take to $4,375,724 following the Jan. 30 to Feb. 1 weekend, the all-time record for a Quebec movie.

The other top Canadian and Quebec movies in ’97 are the Claude Fournier comedy J’en suis (Malofilm/Behaviour) $800,000, the Keystone International family film Air Bud (Cineplex Odeon Quebec) $626,000, the Christian Duguay action movie The Assignment (Motion International) $295,000, the Michel Poulette film noir Le Conciergerie (Lions Gate) $250,000, and the Roger Cantin family fantasy sequel Matusalem ii (Motion), which had raked in $161,000 after only two weeks of release in late ’97.

Other Canadian results include ’97 Genie best picture winner The Sweet Hereafter (Alliance) $152,875, released here in the second week of October; La Comtesse de Baton Rouge (Behaviour), which took in $80,000 with nine prints; the critically acclaimed stowaway coproduction Clandestin, which earned $51,000; and the suspense spoof Vengeance de la femme en noir (Motion), which earned $26,000, a disappointment considering its 21 prints.

Domestic releases with $10,000 or less in ’97 include Seige de l’ame, Mon Coeur est temoin (Cinema Libre) and Taxi to l.a.

In the overall market, theatrical receipts in Quebec rose 11% in calendar ’97 to $109.5 million, up from $97 million in ’96, according to year-end data from Montreal-based Alex Films, a distribution/exhibition consultancy.

The year saw a decline in the market share for American movies from 87% in ’96 to 83% in ’97 (for a total take of $90.6 million), with the foreign film share up from 4% to 7%, largely on the strength of the performance of Mr. Bean (PolyGram), which pulled in $2.7 million at the box office, and ‘official’ French action film The Fifth Element (Universal) with $2.4 million.

French box office blues

Box office receipts for Quebec films were also up in ’97. Quebec flicks grabbed 6% of the French-track theatrical take due in large measure to the performance of Les Boys. The overall Quebec take at the box office last year was $4.4 million. The combined Canadian total is $5.3 million.

However, ’97 was largely disappointing for many films from France, which saw their share of the French-track market slip from 8% to 7%, or a total take of just under $5.8 million, according to Carole Boudreault, Alex president.

As for other films from France, Lucie Aubrac (Lions Gate) earned $202,000, a major disappointment, Marius et Jeanette (Alliance) had pulled in $190,000 in the final three weeks of December, and Ponette (France Films) did rather well with repertoire-only earnings of $166,000.

Top overall performer in Quebec in ’97 is The Lost World (Universal), which pulled in $4.2 million, followed by Men in Black (Columbia) at $3.77 million. Titanic (Paramount) had $3.5 million in earnings by year end, but has since increased its take to $8.4 million, the all-time record for the Quebec market.

Other top overall performers were 101 Dalmatians, $3.3 million; Air Force One, $3.24 million; and Bean, $2.7 million. Les Boys ranked eighth overall last year.

Market share

Quebec market leaders by distributor in ’97 are: Columbia (32 films) 19%, Paramount (25 films) 12%, Buena Vista (28 films) 11.5%, Alliance (70 films) 11%, Universal (14 films) 10%, wb (29 films) 10%, 20th Century Fox (26 films) 9%, CFP/Films Lions Gate (32 films) 4%, followed by PolyGram 4%, mgm 2%, and Behaviour (Malofilm) 2%.

Other distributors included Montplaisir, a subdistributor for a u.s. major, DreamWorks, subsequently subdistributed in Quebec by Motion.

An unspecified number of other distribution companies, including Film Tonic, K-Films, Cinema Libre, France Film and Fun Films, distributed 127 films in ’97 for a 3.5% share of the local market.

Overall market share – English- and French-track releases combined – by country of origin in ’97 is as follows: France, 57 films, 5%; Quebec, 16 films, 4%; (English) Canada, 16 films, 1%; the u.s., 199 films for an 83% market share (79% of the French-track market); and other countries (including the u.k., Italy, Australia, Turkey, prc, etc.), 62 films for a 7% share of the Quebec theatrical market.

A small percentage of theatrical releases are not reported by Alex Films, among them triple x-rated material, which is estimated to take in some $2 million to $3 million annually.