MONTREAL – Canadian films took C$19.4m (about $14m) at Canadian cinemas in the first nine months of 2026, up 77% on the C$11.0m they made over the same stretch last year, according to Telefilm Canada’s third-quarter market report. English-language Canadian titles accounted for most of the rise, and their takings are the highest the funding agency has recorded for that point of the year in a decade.
Key facts
- Canadian films: C$19.4m from 26 December 2025 to 1 October 2026, against C$11.0m a year earlier (+77.1%)
- English-language Canadian films: C$10.3m, more than four times the C$2.4m of a year earlier; French-language: C$9.1m, up 5.7% from C$8.6m
- Total Canadian box office for the period: C$803.0m, up 21.7% from C$660.0m
- Canadian films’ share of the market rose to 2.4% from 1.7%
- PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie leads the ranking of Canadian films with C$5.16m
The report, which Telefilm compiles from data supplied by the Movie Theatre Association of Canada, covers 40 weeks of ticket sales. By week 34, Canadian films had already passed the total they earned in the whole of 2025, and the lead kept growing into the autumn. At the end of September the cumulative figure was about C$8.4m ahead of 2025 and C$3.5m ahead of 2024.
One animated release changes the English-language picture
The jump in English-language Canada is mostly down to one film. PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie, from Spin Master’s PAW Patrol franchise, opened on 14 August and has taken C$5.16m, of which C$4.28m came from English-language screenings. Elevation Pictures distributes it in Canada and Paramount Pictures elsewhere, Spin Master said in February.
The title alone accounts for more than a quarter of Canadian films’ takings this year. Behind it are the English-language titles Telefilm credits for the rise, all released in the first half: Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie with C$1.40m, the horror film undertone with C$1.15m, Little Lorraine with C$778,428 and Mile End Kicks with C$456,169. Even so, English-language Canadian films hold only 1.4% of their market, up from 0.4% a year ago.
Quebec comedies pull the French market back
French-language Canadian films, which usually carry the Canadian-film total, had a weak first half and recovered over the summer. Louis Bélanger’s comedy 125, rue des Malaises, released in July by TVA Films, is the second-biggest Canadian film of the year with C$2.99m, almost all of it from French-language screens. The drama Rédemptions (C$1.09m) and the comedy François.e (C$870,331) also helped. Bélanger’s film, produced by Denise Robert at Cinémaginaire, was made without money from public funding bodies beyond federal and provincial tax credits, according to the Quebec film site Films du Québec. The share held by French-language Canadian films in their market still slipped, to 11.1% from 12.2%.
Five Canadian films have passed the C$1m mark so far this year. Telefilm also singled out Blue Heron, still in the top 20 after its festival run, and the historical drama Pauline Julien: femme pays, which entered the list in 12th place after opening on 25 September.
More films, a bigger market
The wider market grew as well. Cinemas in Canada screened 1,881 films that earned box office in the period, up 30.4% from 1,442, and 864 new titles opened, up from 693 in 2025. New Canadian releases rose to 132 (60 in French, 72 in English) from 109.
Franchises took the biggest grosses. Spider-Man: Brand New Day tops the overall chart with C$94.1m, followed by The Odyssey (C$79.6m), The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (C$45.9m) and Project Hail Mary (C$41.6m). Eight of the top ten are sequels, franchise films or adaptations, and three are animated. Telefilm also pointed to the low-budget horror film Obsession, seventh with C$26.6m.
The numbers come as exhibitors across the continent keep investing in their venues; North American operators said earlier this autumn that they had spent $2.7bn on refurbishment. In Quebec, the provincial agency SODEC recently said it would lend up to 95% of a production tax credit in advance. Local films are carrying weight elsewhere too: in Spain, La bola negra has passed €34m.
Telefilm will publish its full-year 2026 report in January 2027. All Telefilm figures are gross box office takings in Canadian dollars.