Canadian Box Office, weekend of July 27

1 The Simpsons Movie $5.64 mil $5.64 mil
2 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix $1.89 mil $25.31 mil
3 Hairspray $1.33 mil $5.17 mil
4 I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry $1.26 mil $5.19 mil
5 Transformers $1.04 mil $24.99 mil
6 No Reservations $633,698 $633,698
7 Ratatouille $562,136 $12.24 mil
8 Live Free or Die Hard $425,476 $10.86 mil
9 I Know Who Killed Me $272,888 $272,888
10 Sunshine $108,157 $143,805

In Québec, Ma Tanta Aline came in 5th for the week at $361,496 and Nitro came in at 8th with another $242,318 for a gross of $3,210,868.

No other Canadian films are represented in the North American charts.

[via Tribute and Cineac]

Canadian Box Office - Away From Her RIP

Sarah Polley's reign of terror officially ended July 19, after 77 days of release. At its peak Away From Her was in 275 theatres.

Total US and Canada: $4,571,521

Total Foreign: $1,371,638 (this could be Canadian figures but the Canadian box office is usually lumped in with the states).

Total world: $5,943,159

The only other [English] Canadian film to make the North American top 100 was Manufactured Landscapes which is picking up steam in limited release south of the border.

#58 Manufactured Landscapes; $14,871 ; +112.6% ; 7 theatres (+4 ); $2,124 average total US domestic: -$113,549 in 5 weeks.

The Canadian top ten is here.

[via Box Office Mojo]

Canadian Box Office - Weekend of July 13, 2007

1. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix $7.18 mil (weekend) $12.17 mil (gross)
2. Transformers $3.15 mil (weekend) $18.46 mil (gross)
   
3. Ratatouille $1.31 mil (weekend) $8.94 mil (gross)
   
4. Live Free or Die Hard $959,153 (weekend) $8.57 mil (gross)
5. License to Wed $517,676 (weekend) $1.73 mil (gross)
6. Knocked Up $353,086 (weekend) $12.81 mil (gross)
7. Pirates of the Caribbean $248,871 (weekend) $26.41 mil (gross)
8. Sicko $245,323 (weekend) $1.64 mil (gross)
9. 1408 $236,744 (weekend) $4.39 mil (gross)
10. Evan Almighty $202,423 (weekend) $4.98 mil (gross)

We don't have the figures for Nitro yet, but from July 6-12 Cineac is reporting that it made $804,659 for a total of domestic total of $2,478,295 in 2 weeks. If that held through the weekend, it would be in the top twenty in North America.

North American box office:

#43, Away from Her. $26,637 , +13.0% from last week, 31 theatres, lost 7. $859 average for a total US domestic take of $4,548,331 in 11 weeks. Total worldwide: $5,906,836

#58 Manufactured Landscapes. $6,994, dropped 43.7% from last week. 3 theatres for an average of $2,331 per theatre. $92,069 total in 4 weeks.

#97 Brand Upon the Brain! $1,051 in 3 theatres, for $350 average per theatre. Total box office: $222,718 in 10 weeks.

107 Everything's Gone Green. $239. 1 theatre. $19,373 worldwide gross in 13 weeks!

Nice to see Brand Upon The Brain! and Everything's Gone Green back on the list, but really at this point they are finished. Everything's Gone Green is dead with $19,373 in 13 weeks of release - the budget is estimated at $2 million. It's official, people just hate Douglas Coupland.

Fido is at the pound. Poor Fido.

[via Tribute and Box Office Mojo

Updated: Canadian Box Office - Not that "explosive"

Nitro fell to bottom of the top ten in Canada and is the only Canadian film (French Canadian to boot) to break the top ten. In other news, Michael Bay used his cinematic powers for pure evil and coughed out Transformers the no.1 film in North America, Seth Rogen is still playing a Canadian in Knocked Up, Michael Moore just wished he was a Canadian, and Fido is still twitching.

1 Transformers $5.75 mil $11.52 mil
2 Ratatouille $1.82 mil $6.27 mil
3 Live Free or Die Hard $1.37 mil $6.66 mil
4 License to Wed $686,125 $686,125
5 Knocked Up $481,854 $12.13 mil
6 Evan Almighty $478,970 $4.46 mil
7 1408 $416,889 $3.87 mil
8 Pirates of Caribbean: $399,880 $25.88 mil
9 Sicko $331,805 $1.15 mil
10 Nitro $307,633 $1.44 mil

These are estimates, actual figures will be out this evening:

FIDO: $10,100 on 4 screens, $2,525 per screen average, for a whopping $298,000 gross over it's entire run.

Away from Her: $21,700 dropped-43.3% from the weekend before, is on 38 screens, -14 less screens, and had a theatre average of $571 for a US box office total of $4,499,000 and a worldwide total of $5,838,790 over 66 days on an estimated $4,000,000 budget. This may be the first film that Telefilm has ever financed that made back its money - I don't think that's much of an exaggeration either (if there is another one, let us know).

Updated:

Away From Her: # 45, (down from #37) $23,576, $620 average, and $4,501,383 US domestic.

Manufactured Landscapes #52, $12,412, +16.0% from previous weekend, 3 theatres (+1) $4,137 average per theatre, for a total of $72,153 US in 3 weeks of release.

Fido: #56, $10,343, 4 theaters, $2,585 average (not too shaby) for a total of $298,110

[via Tribute and Box Office Mojo]

For a historical comparisson of Canadian box office grosses, take a look at The Numbers.

Just a note on "The Numbers" - that site has many films that were distributed by Canadian companies such as LG or AA that are not TECHNICALLY Canadian films - that is they may partly have been financed here, or distributed or shot here, but are NOT by Canadian directors.

Example - Heist was shot in Montréal, that does not make it Canadian.

Owning Mahowney is a Canadian UK co-production, shot here, but with US actors and a UK director - where as David Cronenberg is a Canadian director who often makes UK/France/Canada co-productions (Spider, eXistenZ, Eastern Promises etc.) but, his films are classified as Canadian (as he is Canadian).

Canadian Box Office - Weekend of June 29

A Québécois Fast and The Furious? Who knew?

1 Live Free or Die Hard 20th Century Fox $2.43 mil $3.45 mil
2 Ratatouille Walt Disney $2.18 mil $2.18 mil
3 Evan Almighty Universal $787,939 $3.24 mil
4 Fantastic Four: Rise.... 20th Century Fox $692,914 $7.47 mil
5 1408 Alliance Atlantis $662,779 $2.81 mil
6 Knocked Up Universal $652,199 $11.06 mil
7 Nitro Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm $648,138 $648,138
8 Pirates of the Caribbean Walt Disney $624,791 $25.00 mil
9 Ocean's Thirteen Warner Bros. $572,225 $9.22 mil
10 Sicko Alliance Atlantis $451,726 $451,726

37 Away From Her, $38,287, 52 theatres (and starting to drop fast), worldwide gross $5,772,724.

51 Manufactured Landscapes, $10,697, 2 theatres (limited release) $36,409 US domestic

Fido and Brand Upon The Brain! fell off the charts.

[via Tribute and Box Office Mojo]

Updated: Canadian box office, weekend of June 22, 2007

1 Evan Almighty - Universal - $1.51 mil - $1.51 mil
2 Fantastic Four: Rise... - Fox - $1.44 mil - $5.92 mil
3 1408 - Alliance Atlantis - $1.23 mil - $1.23 mil
4 Knocked - Up Universal - $1.06 mil - $9.70 mil
5 Ocean's Thirteen Warner Bros. - $1.01 mil - $7.99 mil
6 Pirates of the Caribbean: AWE - Disney- $868,911 - $23.83 mil
7 Shrek the Third - DreamWorks - $527,857 - $26.41 mil
8 Surf's Up - Columbia - $470,748 - $2.77 mil
9 A Mighty Heart - Paramount Vantage - $352,659 - $352,659
10 Nancy Drew - Warner Bros. $321,533 - $870,657

These are still studio estimates. Actuals are updated later in the evening.

Away From Her : $94,200, 121 theatres, total worldwide: $5,647,671
Fido: $3300, 2 theatres, $105,382 total worldwide
Brand Upon The Brain!, no estimate yet - total worldwide (June 21) $219,203


Updated:

Brand Upon The Brain! #121 in North America. It made just $117, had a -97.7% drop in interest, and is down to 1 theatre. Box office total: $219,347. Next week, it will have dropped off the charts.

FIDO #81 in North America. $3,810, 2 theatres, a -62.7% drop from the following week. Worldwide box office total is now $284,977.

So a bit better, well shy of the 8 or 11 million budget we've heard it has.

Away From Her #27 in North America. $98,348 in 121 theatres, had a -54.3% drop in attendance, and a worldwide box office of $5,672,581.

Go, Polley Go.

[via Tribute and Box Office Mojo ]

Updated: Canadian Box Office - Weekend of June 15, 2007

• 1 Fantastic Four... 20th Century Fox $3.10 mil $3.10 mil
• 2 Ocean's Thirteen Warner Bros. $1.71 mil $5.99 mil
• 3 Pirates of the Caribbean... Walt Disney $1.38 mil $22.35 mil
• 4 Knocked Up Universal $1.26 mil $7.71 mil
• 5 Shrek the Third Paramount $833,837 $25.51 mil
• 6 Surf's Up Columbia $682,128 $1.96 mil
• 7 Nancy Drew Warner Bros. $376,974 $376,974
• 8 Spider-Man 3 Columbia $203,812 $30.57 mil
• 9 Eli Roth's Hostel Part II Maple $171,456 $782,212
• 10 Mr. Brooks Odeon $120,396 $1.47 mil

That's it, no more Canadian films in the top ten. Away From Her slipped to No.17 in North America, but it made another $200,000 this weekend, which is really unbelievable when you consider that is what Spider-Man 3 took in Canada over the weekend.

Numbers are not in for Fido yet, but it doesn't appear to be within the top 50 - but it may still have a strong seat count in NY and LA .

We should have numbers for Fido and Brand Upon The Brain by this evening.

UPDATE: 10:30pm EST

Away From Her, actual - dropped to #20. $215,158 this weekend, in 203 theatres. $5,393,043 total.

Fido #65 in North America. $10,203 US in 2 theatres (save average as Oceans 13) $102, 100 total.

Brand Upon The Brain! $5,473 in 7 theatres, dropped from #50 to #76. $213,961 total.


[Via Tribute & Box Office Mojo]

Canadian Box Office - Weekend of June 8, 2007

1 Ocean's Thirteen Warner Bros. $2.84 mil $2.84 mil
2 Pirates of the Caribbean... Walt Disney $2.34 mil $20.17 mil
3 Knocked Up Universal $1.76 mil $5.39 mil
4 Shrek the Third DreamWorks $1.37 mil $24.21 mil
5 Surf's Up Columbia $973,180 $973,180
6 Eli Roth's Hostel Part II Maple $398,614 $398,614
7 Spider-Man 3 Columbia $322,147 $30.22 mil
8 Mr. Brooks Odeon $289,442 $1.19 mil
9 Spider-Man 3: The IMAX Experience Columbia $67,705 $2.37 mil
10 Away From Her Mongrel Media $60,103 $827,281

Away From Her holds on to the ten spot, and has made $4,962,327 worldwide since its release on May 4.

The only other Canadian film in the charts, Knocked Up, was made by Americans. I had a chance to view it over the weekend, and I have to say, I recant my earlier boycott. This was truly one of the better Canadian comedies I have seen. I believe I noticed about 12 references to Canada in the film - Canadian, Canada, Vancouver, and British Columbia spoke aloud, a red Canada flag tattoo, a sign that crassly read: "Canadian beaver - Pamela Anderson, Elisha Cuthbert" etc., insurance (as in Canadian), a British Columbia license plate which I adored seeing, and a hundred references to pot, there may have been more.

Really, I think we should give up making Canadian comedies all together as the Americans clearly do it better than us. They have all our actors, and they are not restricted to CAVCO points. When Hollywood makes a Canadian film with a 33 million dollar budget and a good script, why even try anymore?

Canadian Box Office: Weekend of June 1, 2007

1 Pirates of the Caribbean... Walt Disney $4.40 mil $16.28 mil
2 Shrek the Third Paramount $2.24 mil $22.04 mil
3 Knocked Up Universal $2.11 mil $2.11 mil
4 Spider-Man 3 Columbia $598,826 $29.65 mil
5 Mr. Brooks Odeon $579,454 $579,454
6 28 Weeks Later 20th Century Fox $108,414 $2.62 mil
7 Spider-Man 3: The IMAX Experience Columbia $93,619 $2.26 mil
8 Georgia Rule Universal $82,848 $2.31 mil
9 Away From Her Mongrel Media $72,051 $711,944
10 Fracture Alliance Atlantis $58,989 $4.80 mil

Well, maybe you thought I was joking when I said to boycott Knocked Up. It made $29 million USD and $2.11 million Canadian, and you've all gone and made Seth Rogen a bankable actor, and now he's off to a great career in Hollywood. So, shame on you all for seeing the only new film that was even remotely original. You should feel really, really horrible about that, and even more horrible if you went and saw Georgia Rule this weekend.

Thank God Callum Keith Rennie will never be a star. We'd hate to lose him.

Sarah Polley on the other hand will never be able to escape Canada, and is holding strong in the top ten and lucky #13 stateside. Away From Her has now grossed $4,448,640 (USD) worldwide in one month. That should almost pay for the budget without P&A.

[via Tribute]

[Correction - Away From Her was mispublished as reading $4,444,64 (which looks a lot like $4,444.64). The correct worldwide gross is now posted above as $4,448,640]

Canadian Box Office: Weekend of May 25, 2007

It's Monday.

Our sole Canadian film Away From Her, is still going strong as American indie picture Waitress gains in Canada.

1 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Walt Disney $8.69 mil $8.69 mil
2 Shrek the Third Paramount $4.04 mil $18.48 mil
3 Spider-Man 3 Columbia $1.15 mil $28.60 mil
4 28 Weeks Later Fox Atomic $228,980 $2.38 mil
5 Georgia Rule Universal $200,808 $2.10 mil
6 Spider-Man 3: The IMAX Experience Columbia $137,879 $2.10 mil
7 Fracture Alliance Atlantis $132,966 $4.67 mil
8 Away From Her Mongrel Media $105,580 $584,025
9 Waitress Fox Searchlight $76,479 $214,883
10 The Invisible Touchstone $51,611 $1.43 mil

Via Tribute

Full USA Weekend Box Office via Box Office Mojo

Canadian Box Office: Weekend of May 18th - One of our own, finally

Well we did it. A Canadian made movie from a Canadian director within the top ten films at the Canadian Box Office, while such huge Hollywood sequels play in every cinema around the clock. I almost feel, I dunno, proud of Sarah Polley or something. With our dollar at 92 cents, the highest since October 77, I could almost shed a tear.

1 Shrek the Third Paramount $9.80 mil $9.80 mil
2 Spider-Man 3 Columbia $3.16 mil $26.03 mil
3 28 Weeks Later Fox Atomic $543,505 $1.82 mil
4 Georgia Rule Universal $527,602 $1.62 mil
5 Fracture Alliance Atlantis $294,293 $4.40 mil
6 Spider-Man 3: The IMAX Experience Columbia $280,870 $1.80 mil
7 Disturbia Paramount $208,887 $5.71 mil
8 Hot Fuzz Odeon $156,508 $2.72 mil
9 Away From Her Mongrel Media $133,650 $400,019
10 Blades of Glory Paramount $91,452 $10.46 mil

Via Tribute

Away From Her: #13 in NA

That's right - number 13 in North America - behind the comedies Blades of Glory and The Ex.

Up from 21.

Away From Her made $720,000 USD over the weekend (and as far as I can tell, it has made $318,000 in Canada), bringing its 17 day total gross to $1,679,949. With these types of figures, the film may actually make a profit (although I'm highly skeptical that it actually will).

Go Polley, go.

Total Canadian box office figures are not due till Monday.

Via Box Office Mojo

Canadian Box Office: May 11-13

1 SPIDER-MAN 3 Columbia $5.15 mil $20.95 mil
2 28 WEEKS LATER Fox Atomic $809,426 $809,426
3 GEORGIA RULE Universal $691,179 $691,179
4 SPIDER-MAN 3: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE Columbia $367,441 $1.32 mil
5 FRACTURE Alliance Atlantis $314,729 $3.88 mil
6 DISTURBIA DreamWorks $298,292 $5.34 mil
7 HOT FUZZ Odeon $187,337 $2.44 mil
8 THE EX Alliance Atlantis $173,708 $173,708
9 THE INVISIBLE Touchstone $142,141 $1.19 mil
10 BLADES OF GLORY Paramount $107,499 $10.31 mil

*Canadian dollars

While it didn't make the top ten, Away From Her came in at #20, when Lionsgate expanded to 54 screens to score a weekend gross of $317,000, and a total worldwide gross of $708,090 USD. The average theat(er)re brought in $5870! Sarah Polley must be counting her lucky stars that Spidey 3 turned out to be a dismal mess.

Douglas Coupland's film Everything's Gone Green, was anything but, with a paltry sum of $14,494 CDN in 28 days, and 4 theatres in domestic release according to Box Office Mojo (may need to sign up - account is free). Hardly enough money to pay for all the advertisements I saw City of Toronto take down on Queen Street.


Via Tribute and Box Office Mojo

Spider-Man Vs. Sarah Polley - Canadian Box Office: May 4-6, 2007

If you ever wondered if Canadians can actually make a difference in box office receipts, take a look at Spider-Man 3. In North America the Spider-Man broke all previous box office records with 148 million, and in Canada alone it grossed over 12 million (which must be a Canadian box office record).

And, in a case of classic counter programing, Lionsgate released Sarah Polley's directorial debut, Away From Her, on a weekend when everyone and their dog went to see Spidey.

IMAX, a Canadian owned company, had an exceptional weekend as well landing the number 2 spot with Spider-Man 3: The Imax Experience.

1 SPIDER-MAN 3 Columbia $11.69 mil $11.69 mil
2 SPIDER-MAN 3: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE Columbia $560,787 $560,787
3 FRACTURE Alliance Atlantis $463,294 $3.34 mil
4 DISTURBIA DreamWorks $431,610 $4.88 mil
5 NEXT Paramount $266,797 $1.17 mil
6 HOT FUZZ Odeon $265,080 $2.12 mil
7 THE INVISIBLE Touchstone $254,811 $948,547
8 BLADES OF GLORY DreamWorks $199,056 $10.12 mil
9 LUCKY YOU Warner Bros. $181,741 $181,741
10 MEET THE ROBINSONS Walt Disney $154,870 $5.30 mil

Away From Her opened with 4 screens to a small but respectable $56,000. It gains more screens throughout May.

Canadian Box Office, April 27-29, 2007

1 FRACTURE Alliance Atlantis, Weekend: $919,180 Total: $2.49 mil
2 DISTURBIA DreamWorks, Weekend:$705,473 Total: $4.18 mil
3 NEXT Paramount, Weekend:$643,057 Total: $643,057
4 HOT FUZZ Odeon, Weekend:$558,710 Total: $1.62 mil
5 THE INVISIBLE Touchstone, Weekend:$524,537 Total: $524,537
6 BLADES OF GLORY DreamWorks, Weekend:$488,007 Total: $9.72 mil
7 THE CONDEMNED Maple, Weekend:$442,099 Total: $442,099
8 VACANCY Columbia, Weekend:$406,757 Total: $1.21 mil
9 MEET THE ROBINSONS Walt Disney Weekend:$389,015 Total: $5.06 mil
10 ARE WE DONE YET? Columbia, Weekend:$338,705 Total: $3.47 mil

*In Canadian dollars

Via tribute.ca

Canadian Box Office - April 20-22, 2007

1 FRACTURE Alliance Atlantis 993,877
2 DISTURBIA Paramount 912,363
3 HOT FUZZ Odeon 696,628
4 BLADES OF GLORY Paramount 645,879
5 VACANCY Columbia 556,096
6 MEET THE ROBINSONS Walt Disney 408,759
7 ARE WE DONE YET? Columbia 364,159
8 PERFECT STRANGER Columbia 363,407
9 IN THE LAND OF WOMEN Warner Bros. 345,162
10 300 Warner Bros. 213,060

In Canadian dollars

Canadian Box Office: April 13-15, 2007

1 DISTURBIA Paramount 1,627,781
2 BLADES OF GLORY Paramount 1,129,672
3 PERFECT STRANGER Columbia 1,083,311
4 MEET THE ROBINSONS Walt Disney 693,147
5 ARE WE DONE YET? Columbia 664,458
6 GRINDHOUSE Alliance Atlantis 471,840
7 SHOOTER Paramount 434,203
8 300 Warner Bros. 422,169
9 THE REAPING Warner Bros.. 364,477
10 WILD HOGS Touchstone 330,350

*All figures in Canadian Dollars

Should we cheer that Blades of Glory was partially filmed in Montreal?

For those of you that have seen Andrew Currie's FIDO, it's been released for a whole month now.

Fido's total box office take: $91,879

Fido's total estimated budget: $8,000,000

Hey, money isn't everything.

Canadian Box Office: April 6-8, 2007

1 BLADES OF GLORY $1,936,019
2 ARE WE DONE YET? $1,085,153
3 GRINDHOUSE $1,064,645
4 MEET THE ROBINSONS $1,030,564
5 300 $774,519
6 SHOOTER $770,825
7 THE REAPING $722,386
8 WILD HOGS $537,215
9 TMNT $418,326
10 REIGN OVER ME $336,276

All figures in Canadian dollars.

Via Tribute

Alliance Atlantis sale nears approval

Alliance Atlantis moves one step further to be owned by CanWest. It should be noted that Alliance Atlantis owns the distribution rights of the CSI franchise in Canada, so it looks like more CSI for us on TV, instead of good Canadian written drama which we need so badly. In Canada, we don't have a studio system, we have television broadcasters.

What does this deal mean for Canadian filmmakers? Well, since AA no longer funds Canadian films after the complete failure of Foolproof (2003), the sale can't make anything worse for us. But, since our track record of producing viable critical and commercial films is so spotty, I don't suspect CanWest will be eager to fund more independent cinema. AA's final Canadian film Saint Ralph(2004), unfortunately, died a slow death at the box office.

National Cinema Presents: A Love/Hate Relationship

This is actually the third incarnation of National Cinema which started in May of 2005 by a group of cinephiles and filmmakers across Canada, and oddly, South Korea. Our aim is to try to understand the current and historical state of English Canadian cinema. We want to love Canadian cinema, and we do some of the time. We want you to as well.

The debate over what is wrong in Canadian cinema, often over shadows what is right, namely the films themselves. We hope that through our continued study of Canadian film we can help fuel the debate for an industry that is clearly paralyzed by its own lack of success, and an apathetic audience with a deep rooted sense of cultural cringe.

Image: The Night Of The Hunter, Charles Laughton (1955)