Emily Lê as Sonny and Dan Beirne as Chester in Paying for It, whose Canadian theatrical rollout included independent cinemas and community screenings.
Photo credit: Gayle Ye / Courtesy of Canada Media Fund
A Canadian film can be listed as a theatrical release even when there are few opportunities to buy a ticket. In a new study of Ontario independent cinemas, exhibitors reported deciding whether to book Canadian films they often had never heard of. The findings point to a problem that begins well before audiences reach the box office.
Between February 6 and March 26, 2026, 16 independent cinemas in Ontario recorded 238 booking decisions involving 17 Canadian film releases. They said they had heard of the film in 115 of those decisions. The findings come from Market Access Barriers, a September 2026 report by the Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors (NICE), supported by Ontario Creates. The cinemas operated 34 screens between them; the study describes this participating group rather than all Canadian theatres.
Producing a feature, securing Canadian theatrical distribution and booking actual screenings involve different parties and budgets. A distributor can announce an opening date, yet exhibitors still have to make space for the film and audiences have to hear about it. Canada's annual release counts provide useful industry data, although they cannot tell us how many showtimes any particular film received.
Canadian films account for a small share of ticket sales
Canadian theatres collected $836.9 million at the box office in 2025, according to Telefilm Canada's annual review using data from the Movie Theatre Association of Canada. Canadian films generated $13.9 million, a 1.7% market share. That was down 40.9% from their $23.5 million in 2024, even as overall box-office revenue rose slightly. Telefilm measures these receipts over a 52-week period running from December 27, 2024, through December 25, 2025.
The release count covers a different reporting period: January 1 through December 31, 2025. Of 966 newly released films, 139 were Canadian, or 14.4%. A title counts as a theatrical release whether it plays occasional screenings or a sustained run across many theatres, so the gap between the share of titles and the share of revenue cannot, by itself, establish how many screens Canadian films were offered.
Results also differed sharply by screening language. Canadian films earned $11.3 million at French-language screenings, close to 13% of receipts in that market, compared with $2.7 million and a 0.4% share at English-language screenings. Telefilm's categories refer to the language in which a film was screened. They do not necessarily identify its original production language, and French-language screening revenue should not be treated as equivalent to the Quebec provincial box office.
Both language markets recorded declines in Canadian-film receipts in 2025: 45.5% at French-language screenings and 7.9% at English-language screenings. Provincial figures add another perspective. The Institut de la statistique du Québec reported that films from Quebec accounted for 9% of admissions and about 8% of theatrical revenue within the province in 2025. That was down from 15% of admissions and 13% of revenue in 2024. Its survey also found regional differences: Quebec films attracted 18% of admissions in Bas-Saint-Laurent, compared with 7% in Montreal. These are provincial origin-and-attendance measures, distinct from Telefilm's national screening-language totals.
A release date does not guarantee a screen
For a Canadian feature to play in theatres, a distributor or other theatrical rights holder generally needs to arrange its release with exhibitors. Distributors can negotiate screening bookings and help coordinate marketing materials, dates and publicity; some producers do much of that work themselves. Cinema operators decide whether a film suits their customers, what competing titles are available and how much space can be allocated to it.
The largest chains control much of the national box office. Cineplex's 2025 investor figures put its share at 74%, followed by Landmark at 14% and other operators at 12%. Their market positions make booking decisions consequential for Canadian releases, though the figures alone provide no evidence about how either company chooses individual titles.
NICE's report also examined full-show commitments. Under these arrangements, an exhibitor agrees to devote every available showing on a screen to one film for a specified period, potentially preventing a single-screen theatre from adding another feature until that commitment ends. Among the 16 Ontario cinemas in the study, venues without full-show commitments booked Canadian titles in 18 of 90 decisions, a 20% rate. Cinemas with full-show commitments on at least half their playdates booked five of 89, or 5.6%. The first group booked Canadian titles at roughly 3.6 times the rate of the second, an association within this particular sample.
NICE also documented geographic exclusivity arrangements, known in the business as zones or clearances, that can restrict which cinema may exhibit a film in a given area. The study recorded zone restrictions in seven of the 238 decisions, affecting four cinemas and three titles. The organization considers the practice a barrier, although its Ontario data indicate that full-show commitments and other factors affected more decisions.
Sometimes the theatre has never heard of the film
Communication produced another substantial difference. NICE's question about distributor contact received usable answers for 196 of the 238 booking decisions. Of 59 decisions in which the distributor contacted the cinema, 19 ended in bookings, or 32%. Where there was no distributor contact, seven of 137 decisions resulted in bookings, or 5%. In those cases, the cinema learned about the title elsewhere and approached the distributor. The results establish an association within the sample; they cannot show that an email or telephone call alone caused a booking.
Exhibitors need time to weigh a film against other programming and prepare to promote it. An announced release date and advance access to trailers, artwork and publicity information can help, particularly when a screening depends on a filmmaker appearance or community event. NICE recommends longer lead times and more consistent distributor communication. In September 2025, it launched the Canadian Movie Marketplace, a database through which exhibitors can find Canadian films available for theatrical booking.
The national figures collected by NICE point to the importance of independent cinemas, with a substantial qualification. Using Comscore data, NICE calculated that independent theatres collected about 16% of all Canadian theatrical revenue in 2025 but approximately 60% of measured Canadian-film revenue. It identified 35 films whose entire recorded box office came from independent screens. Those results are based on 88 Canadian films with measurable box-office totals, a dataset worth $11.56 million. Fifty-one other titles among Telefilm's 139 new Canadian releases had no measured gross in that Comscore dataset and were excluded rather than counted as zero. Because the sources and coverage differ, NICE's $11.56-million total cannot be directly reconciled with Telefilm's $13.9-million national figure.
Two Canadian films, two different releases
The Quebec comedy Menteuse illustrates a coordinated provincial opening. Directed by Émile Gaudreault and distributed by Immina Films, it premiered in Montreal on June 25, 2025, before its public theatrical opening on July 9. The distributor and producers arranged promotional appearances in 10 Quebec cities, including Trois-Rivières, Gatineau and Sherbrooke. Telefilm reported approximately $2.6 million in Canadian box-office receipts in 2025, the highest total for a Canadian title that year.
Quebec's own cinema statistics put Menteuse at almost 240,000 provincial admissions and roughly $2.3 million in Quebec ticket receipts during 2025. It was the only Quebec film among that province's 10 most-attended theatrical titles. The figures come from a provincial statistical survey, while Telefilm's Canadian box-office result is national; the two amounts should be read in their respective geographic and reporting contexts.
Sook-Yin Lee's Paying for It used a more localized strategy. In a June 2025 interview published by the Canada Media Fund, producer Aeschylus Poulos described arranging the release city by city with independent theatres, community organizations and local publicity. The producers began planning during post-production and brought in a publicist and theatrical booker to help approach cinemas and coordinate events.
The film played four consecutive weeks at Toronto's Scotiabank Theatre, which Poulos said was its only Cineplex booking. The theatrical rollout also involved the Carlton Cinema in Toronto, the Roxy Theatre in Saskatoon, additional Landmark screenings and independent or community venues. The team organized events in smaller markets, including Prince Edward Island and Yukon, and worked with NICE to reach independent exhibitors.
Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates helped support the film's marketing. The producer-led work behind Paying for It differed substantially from the Quebec-wide promotional tour organized for Menteuse, although both releases required advance coordination among rights holders, theatres and the people promoting the film.
Public support extends beyond production
Public investment in Canadian film often begins with financing the production, and the finished work still requires a release strategy and a promotional budget. Telefilm Canada's Marketing Program supports eligible Canadian producers and distributors with film promotion and distribution. Its April 2026 revision introduced more flexibility for campaigns extending beyond theatrical release into other ways audiences can access a film.
Telefilm's Theatrical Exhibition Program provides support to eligible commercial exhibitors that program Canadian feature films. Applications for the 2026–27 program were accepted from May 19 to June 2, 2026. These programs assist different participants in getting Canadian films to audiences; funding approval does not establish that a cinema chain has agreed to screen a particular title.
What the figures say about audiences
The exhibitors in NICE's study also cited their own assessments of audience demand. Among 185 decisions not to book a Canadian film for which a reason was recorded, 77 cited other films believed to have greater audience appeal, while 36 said the Canadian title was a poor fit for their audience. Another 64 cited not knowing about the film, and 44 cited a screen committed to another title under a full-show agreement. Participants could select more than one reason. The responses describe exhibitors' judgments and scheduling constraints; they are not a survey of moviegoers' preferences.
Canadian films' low share of national ticket receipts is documented, although those totals cannot separate audience interest from the availability and promotion of particular releases. NICE's Ontario study adds information from the stage when exhibitors choose their schedules: whether a cinema knew about a Canadian film, whether the distributor contacted it, and whether another booking already occupied the screen. By the time a film appears in the annual box-office report, those decisions have already been made.
