Cinépix

Founding and early years

Cinépix started as the successor company of Amerivision, a Montreal film distributor specializing in prestige French imports, which it sold to Télévision de Radio Canada (the Francophone equivalent of CBC). When Amerivision's parent Niagara Films was abruptly shut down by its founder Fernand Séguin in 1962, one of his partners, John Dunning, established Cinépix to take over its catalogue and pay their creditors.^[2] Dunning put the films in local theatres, but it was not enough to make the company viable.^[3] After a few months, he brought in theatrical booker André Link to help. The latter would become his lifelong friend and associate.^[4] To make ends meet, they expanded into exploitation films of wildly varying origins and quality,^[5][6][7] often tweaking titles to make them appear more salacious than what was allowed at the time.^[8] Among audience favorites were European imports concerning prostitution.^[6] Around 1968, Cinépix opened an office in Toronto, headed by industry veteran Orval Fruitman,^[9][10] who would remain with the company until 1979.^[11]

Erotic productions

Also in 1968, the company signed up director Denis Héroux for its first production, Valérie, which retained the tried-and-true prostitution theme. To placate Quebec's harsh censorship, the filmmakers purported to showcase a gentler, more politically aware view of sex. Nonetheless, Dunning and Link used the collective pseudonym "Julian Parnell" in the credits, which would become their go-to alias. Valérie was the first Quebec film to top $1 million at the box office.^[12] Its sole profits were enough to finance two quick follow-ups iterating on the softcore formula, Here and Now (Cinépix's first color production) and Love in a Four Letter World (its first English-language production).^[13] For the most part, Dunning was the creative half of the duo, while Link was the businessman.^[14] Other producers followed suit, and this trend was coined as "Maple Syrup Porn" by U.S. trade magazine Variety.^[15] In late 1970, Dunning hired lawyer Alfred Pariser to assist him as director of production. He would stay until 1975.^[16][17]

The commercial success of Cinépix's films initially trumped their risqué nature in Quebec media and, to some extent, in other provinces.^[18] Several local celebrities including Donald Lautrec, Serge Laprade and Chantal Renaud, and even Boston Bruins player Derek Sanderson, appeared in them.^[19][20] Valérie and some of its successors were supported by the CFDC (later Telefilm Canada), whose president Michael Spencer understood the need for commercial product to strengthen the country's burgeoning film industry.^[21][22] Saturday Night critic Marshall Delaney wrote: "What is so beautiful and so historic about Valérie is the way it defines, in 1969 terms, the traditional morality of Roman Catholic French Canada."^[23] However, reviewers typically had little to say about the film beyond its sociological novelty.^[18]

Alignment with Allied Artists (1969–1973)

Between 1969 and 1970, Kalvex, the parent company of Allied Artists, built a majority participation in Cinépix, which was supposed to help it reach a broader market.^[24][25] Although Here an Now and Love in a Four Letter World were nominated for the 1970 Canadian Film Awards, bad buzz ahead of the event convinced Dunning and Link to withdraw them from the competition.^[26] Calling it a publicity stunt, jury member and Loyola teacher Marc Gervais nonetheless welcomed their decision and dismissed Cinépix's work as "candy coated skin trash".^[27] Dunning and Link opened a distribution office in New York called Cinepix-U.S.A., and produced Keep It in the Family, a virtually non-nude sex comedy starring former American heartthrob John Gavin.^[28][29] But Kalvex's support proved limited. The pair bought back their controlling stake in early 1973 and repatriated operations to Canada.^[30][31][32] The Cinepix-U.S.A. label was retained for some bookings south of the border, although it was effectively operated from Montreal.^{[33][34][35][36]}

The company kept mulling options to find better financing, such as a stock market introduction,^[31] and a sale to Montreal-based TV station Télé-Metropole, but nothing came of them.^[37] Instead, Cinépix announced a two-film joint venture with Pierre David's Films Mutuels in 1973, which saw them distribute the documentary Wrestling Queen and produce yet another sex comedy, The Apple, the Stem and the Seeds.^[38][39] Also that year, Cinépix was one of ten companies who set up the Association of Canadian Independent Motion Picture Distributors, of which Fruitman was named the inaugural president.^[40] In its home province of Quebec, it claimed to distribute up to 100 films a year.^[41]

Dual profile

As a distributor, Cinépix helped bring many more artistic films to the screen. A 1973 Montreal Gazette article assessed that "last year [Dunning] handled almost every acclaimed Canadian feature in both French and English."^[42] In 1974, it took over the distribution of two projects from Canada's leading helmers, Claude Jutra's For Better and for Worse and Denys Arcand's Gina, when their competitor, Société nouvelle de cinématographie, backed out of their financial participation.^[43] However, their practice of misrepresenting their films' contents in promotional materials occasionally extended to the more artistically oriented product they carried.^[44][45][46]

By then, the liberalization of film content had only exacerbated Cinépix's dual profile, which Dunning once described as "schizoid".^[47] While courting acceptance from the mainstream entertainment industry, it relied on less savory language to peddle more explicit wares to exploitation film exhibitors.^[6][48] Although Link was Jewish and a holocaust survivor, the company dabbled in the controversial Nazi exploitation subgenre, distributing the pioneering Love Camp 7, before commissioning the infamous Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS.^[49] Link and Dunning typically went uncredited for these fringe activities.^[50]

Nurturing filmmakers

Regardless of its standing with critics, Cinépix's commercial ambitions made it one of the few alternatives to the NFB among aspiring Canadian filmmakers. In 1973, Christian Larouche joined the company as a truck driver. He would ascend to the position of vice president, producing mainly Francophone films and eventually striking out on his own with Christal Films.^[51] That year, Loyola student Don Carmody also joined, working as a gofer on U-Turn before becoming a production executive.^[52] The company's reputation soon extended beyond Quebec's borders. Hamilton's Ivan Reitman initially approached them to help him find a distributor for his bawdy comedy The Columbus of Sex.^[53] Cinépix funded part of his sophomore effort Foxy Lady, and Link eventually offered Reitman to become an in-house producer for them in 1974.^[6][54] Toronto's David Cronenberg also reached out to Link and Dunning and shot a test scene for a sex comedy, Loving and Laughing.^[6] Cronenberg's style was deemed unfit for it, but they encouraged him to keep in touch if a better project presented itself.^[55][56] This was representative of Dunning's meticulous production style, which involved considerable tinkering.^[57]

For their role in kickstarting several notable careers, Link and Dunning have sometimes been called the "Roger Cormans of Canada", a sentiment most notably echoed by Cronenberg.^[56] However, film historian Paul Corupe has contended that the Canadian market was too different from Hollywood for such a comparison to apply,^[7] while Larry Kent, a two-time director for Cinépix, has argued that its output often possessed a level of creativity beyond that of Corman's more derivative product.^[58]

Horror and thriller

As the box office was becoming saturated with softcore pictures, Cinépix opted for the next commercial genre, horror.^[59] Their first attempt was The Possession of Virginia, which laced its trademark eroticism with mild esoterism. But it was not successful.^[60][6] They also offered a distribution deal to Ivan Reitman for Cannibal Girls, which helped him secure CFDC financing.^[6] Even the liberal CFDC dragged its feet, however, when Cronenberg returned to Dunning with a project that ushered in what came to be known as body horror. Eventually released in 1975, Shivers generated unprecedented international sales for a Canadian film, and much publicity at home for its ill-advised use of taxpayer money.^[6][56][61] Marshall Delaney, one of Valérie's chief apologists, led the charge against Shivers and the CFDC. In response, Link sent a pamphlet titled "Is there a place for horror in Canada's film industry?" to critics nationwide.^[62] Similarly violent works followed with William Fruet's Death Weekend and Cronenberg's Rabid, which featured the novelty casting of adult film star Marilyn Chambers, although CFDC support became inconsistent in the wake of the Shivers controversy.^[22][6] To keep up with inflating budgets, Dunning and Link turned to Lawrence Nesis' Filmco of Winnipeg, a tax shelter broker, for their next batch of projects.^[14][63]

In 1978, Cinépix merged its sales division with that of Saguenay Films, a short-lived outfit started by former Astral boss Martin Bockner. They shared a new office on Bloor Street in Toronto.^[64] In January 1980, the RCMP seized 275 films from Cinépix for failure to pay performing rights on some of them. Dunning countered that no exhibitor paid the tax, which would add 32 percent to releasing costs and make the entire theatrical business unviable in Canada.^[65][66] Charges were ultimately not laid.^[67]

Mainstream projects

Although Cinépix had seemingly lost Ivan Reitman after the 1978 success of his first major production Animal House, Hollywood's reluctance to let him direct led him back to his previous employer for a spiritual successor, Meatballs. Reitman sold it to Paramount and it became the highest grossing Canadian film up to that point.^[68][69] Although the sale's flat fee did not drastically boost Cinépix's finances, it did improve its profile.^[70] The company landed another Paramount pickup with My Bloody Valentine, while Columbia bought Happy Birthday to Me. Both films exploited the ongoing holiday horror film craze.^[71][72]

Reitman again came through when he helped arrange Dunning and Link's first studio production, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone. However, it was repackaged as a 3D film and rushed to the screens to compete with Return of the Jedi, which proved an insurmountable task.^[73] After further disappointments with 20th Century Fox on The Vindicator and ITC Entertainment on State Park, they decided to focus on independent productions. They also lost their connection to Reitman when they opted to churn out low quality Meatballs sequels (two of which were actually licensed to other companies),^[74][75] which displeased the director.^[76] In 1986, Vancouver's Jeffrey Barmash joined the company's legal department, and later graduated to producing.^[77] In 1988, Cinépix moved into the video-friendly action genre with Snake Eater, the first in a series of Lorenzo Lamas vehicles that made the latter a B-movie staple, while earning the company more criticism for some jarring instances of bad taste.^[78][79]

Alliance with Famous Players (1989–1994)

In 1989, Cinépix merged its distribution business with Cinexus Famous Players, itself a recent alliance of producer Cinexus and theater chain Famous Players, to form C/FP Distribution.^[80][81][82] The move was motivated by a similar union between Alliance and Cineplex Odeon.^[83] Cinexus quickly left the partnership, and Cinépix became the majority stakeholder.^[84] Christian Larouche was in charge of French distribution, while Famous Players higher-ups managed English operations.^[82] C/FP scored early coups with Cyrano de Bergerac and Lionheart, in an effort to nab Canadian rights to indie films before its U.S. distributors could get them bundled with their own territory, as was the norm.^[82] In 1991, Link brought in Jeff Sackman, previously vice president of Cineplex Odeon, to beef up Cinepix's English distribution staff.^[85][86] Sackman helped reach an output deal with Miramax between 1991 and 1994,^[87][88][89] which was followed by a briefer association with Sony Pictures Classics in 1994–95.^[88][90] In 1992, Cinépix acquired Vancouver-based Festival Films, an ailing arthouse distributor formed by former Toronto and Vancouver Festival boss Leonard Schein.^[91]

With the emphasis put on distribution, founder John Dunning started feeling alienated from his own company, as Cinépix distanced itself from the hands-on, Quebec-based productions that had been his lifetime's work, in favor of outsourcing direct-to-video product to Ontario-based third parties, chiefly producers David Mitchell and Damian Lee,^[92][93] with whom Sackman had a working relationship from their days at Rose & Ruby and Cineplex, respectively.^[94] In 1994, Cinépix acquired Famous Players' share of C/FP Distribution. To keep the same initials, the company was renamed Cinepix Film Properties.^[93] When the partnership with Toronto-based Famous Players was disbanded in 1994, a company called First Ontario Film Distributors was spun off from CFP by Sackman to keep taking advantage of Ontario subsidies.^[95][93] The company also shot on the West Coast, as with the two Bounty Hunters movies, made in cooperation with CineVu Films, a Vancouver company co-founded in 1991 by Barmash and Snake Eater director George Erschbamer.^[77]

U.S. return and art films

In 1995, Dunning and Link opened a New York City office. Michael Paseornek, a New York writer turned executive, was tasked with setting it up in the new position of VP of U.S. operations.^[96] The site was home to a new U.S. production unit, CFP Productions, headed by Paseornek himself, assisted by Lauren McLaughlin and Ernie Barbarash.^[97][98][99] Its project portfolio largely consisted of character pieces that followed the direction of contemporary independent cinema, rather than the high concept exploitation that had been Dunning's bread and butter.^[100][101] A 1997 article named CFP as the only Canadian film producer with a permanent U.S. office.^[102]

It also housed CFP Distribution, the company's new U.S. theatrical division.^[103] It was originally managed by Adam Rogers, a former Miramax executive who had consulted with C/FP since 1991.^[104] Its first release was Ang Lee's Pushing Hands.^[90] CFP Distribution added a West Coast unit in 1996. Former Hemdale executive Tom Ortenberg was the company's first SoCal staffer, briefly working from his own home before offices were set up in Santa Monica.^[105] He was credited for much of the company's U.S. growth.^[106] Its output featured some of the top independent films of the time, including multiple Sundance winners,^[107][108] as well as product deemed too edgy by more established indies like Miramax.^[109]

Meanwhile, Canadian operations were also reorganized to account for CFP's ambitions. The company acquired a majority stake in CinéGroupe, an internationally recognized Montreal-based animation studio,^[110] and launched CFP International, a new sales division based out of the same city and headed by former Malofilm executive Marie-Claude Poulin.^[110][111] In 1997, signalling its reorientation towards the U.S. market, CFP outsourced its Canadian video distribution to Columbia TriStar Home Video,^[112] and its Canadian theatrical bookings to Cineplex Odeon.^[113] That year, its final one as an independent entity, CFP had revenues of CAD$58 million.^[114]

Sale and rebrand as Lions Gate Films

In 1996, CFP raised CAD$10 million by selling 35 percent of its shares to three investment firms, with an eye towards furthering the growth of its U.S. theatrical business.^[115][116] This move was presented as a prelude to a public offering in 1997.^[110][111] It was instead announced in the summer of 1997 that Cinépix's principals—in addition to Link and Dunning, Sackman and Larouche owned 10 percent^[110]—had sold their remaining shares for CAD$36 million to financier Frank Giustra. The company officially became Lions Gate Films on January 12, 1998,^[117] while its CFP Distribution unit was rebranded as Lions Gate Releasing.^[96] Together with Vancouver's North Shore Studios and Los Angeles' Mandalay Television, LGF became one of the three main divisions of Giustra's new Lionsgate Entertainment.^[22] Just before the name change, Mark Urman replaced Rogers as president of U.S distribution.^[118] Sackman was appointed president of Lions Gate Films Corporation, the Canadian subsidiary of Lions Gate Entertainment that replaced CFP,^[86] while Dunning and Link respectively became chairman and CEO.^[22][119] However, a Francophone branch managed by Christian Larouche, Les Films Cinépix, kept the Cinépix brand alive until early 2001, when Larouche reorganized it as Christal Films Productions.^[120][121]

The original Cinépix Inc. entity remains in control of the Dunning estate. It is primarily used by Greg Dunning, the son of John Dunning (who passed in 2011), to curate the company's archive and promote the John Dunning Foundation, which commemorates his father's legacy and presents the John Dunning Best First Feature Award in association with the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.^[122][123]

Cinema International Canada / CIC Video

A sister company of Cinépix overseeing Link and Dunning's operation of several cinemas,^[4] including two chains called the Midi Minuit (for Francophones) and the Eve (for Anglophones),^[124] as well as an eponymous theatrical distribution label.^[125] It also branched out into home video under the CIC^[126] and CIC Video names.^[127] Not to be confused with Cinema International Corporation, a joint venture between Paramount and Universal, which had its own CIC Video division.

DAL Productions

A sister company focused on production rather than distribution, whose initials simply stood for "Dunning And Link."^[125][128] In 1981, it was one of nine companies that left the longstanding Canadian Association of Motion Picture Producers and Quebec Film Producers Association to start the dissident Association of Canadian Movie Production Companies.^[129]

Avalanche Releasing / Avalanche Home Entertainment

In the final year before the Lionsgate transition, CFP established a sublabel called Avalanche Releasing for theatrical and Avalanche Home Entertainment for video. Those were kept in operation under Lions Gate.^[130][131]

Some alternate lettermarks used by Cinépix and its affiliates over the years. From left to right: Cinema International Canada, C/FP Distribution (1989–94),
CFP (1994), CFP Distribution (1994–96), Cinepix Film Properties (1996–98), Avalanche Releasing

Films produced

Select films distributed

Note: This list excludes self-produced films. Canadian distributor unless otherwise noted.