Quebec films bust at box office in 2012

Box office numbers for 2012 show the year was a disappointing one for Quebec films, the worst in more than a decade.

Cinac, a company that tracks box office results, issued a report showing Quebec films share of the domestic market has plunged to 4.8 per cent.

"It's been a disastrous year, really, 2012 has been really tough for our national cinematography because the market share dropped from 9.9 last year to 4.8 this year," Pascale Dub, executive director of Cinac, told CBC News.

Its not that Quebecois have stopped going to moviesHollywood blockbusters like The Hunger Games and Skyfall had strong box office, as did films from France.

But Quebec failed to produce domestic films with the box office clout of Oscar nominee Monsieur Lazhar or Starbuck, which won the Golden Reel for top box office earnings in 2011.

Only two Quebec movies earned more than $1 millionhockey-themed Les Pee Wee 3D, which only came out in December, and mafia-heist flick Omert.

"Usually Quebec movies are able to go over the millionfour, five titles usually over the million dollars and the top one usually racks in over $3 million, so this year it's particularly low," Dubsaid.

Films such as L'empire Bosse andsimsac were considered box office flops.

Dubsays there are still lessons to be learned from such a poor year.

"The tragic mistake is to try to repeat a recipe; most of the time it doesn't work. I think creativity is here but we probably need to expand our views on what a Quebec movie should be," she said.

In English Canada, the share of box office cornered by domestic films is often lower than in Quebec between three and five per cent of the domestic box office, though 2011was strong because of Barney's Version. Telefilm announcedworking group Wednesday to devise strategies to boost audiences for Canadian films.