A quietly powerful tremor is rippling through the Canadian film industry after the announcement of a new partnership between movie theatre giant Cineplex and studio Lionsgate.
, which saw the three companies work together to theatrically release such Lionsgate titles as the originalfilm. Yet with Mongrel no longer part of the equation – a spokesperson for the company declined to answer questions about their lack of involvement in the new deal – Cineplex effectively becomes both exhibitor and distributor, a blurring of traditional industry practices that key players in the Canadian film community say could upend the business.
CAFDE, which counts Elevation Pictures, VVS Films, LevelFilm, Photon Films, LaRue Entertainment and Vortex Media as its members, added that “studio-exhibitor relationships were long banned in the United States until it was deemed in the consumer’s interest to allow it given the many competing players there. However, with a concentration of Canadian screens controlled by one company nationwide, it is hard to appreciate how fair-market principles are furthered by allowing it here.
“This whole idea is not something new, we’ve been in the distribution business for a while,” Jacob said. “When I started over 30 years ago, we had Cineplex Odeon Films, where we distributed some major studios’ product. Even when Cineplex had 35 per cent of the market and Famous Players had 45 per cent, we distributed movies and we took care of everybody. It wasn’t a situation where, because we were distributing, [another theatre] didn’t get any of the product.
Asked whether the Lionsgate deal threatens to limit consumer choice, Jacob responded that “there’s no impact on the moviegoer, and you can look at what we did with the Lionsgate products over the last number of years and all the other movies that we distribute as part of Cineplex Pictures. What’s happening is that there are movies that don’t have distribution in Canada, and we want to make sure that our theatres have the product that our guests want to see.