The Decibel - Why Canadian movies are having a moment

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

Earlier this year, a report on domestic box office data for 2025 revealed that Canadian films brought in $13.9 million last year. Compared to $23.5-million in 2024, the report painted a distressing picture. But in the last three months, five homegrown films have been breaking box office records. After a sluggish year, Canadian movies are finally having a moment. Barry Hertz is the Globe’s deputy arts editor and film editor. He joins us today to talk about what filmmakers and distributors are doing to capitalize on a time when Canadians – and even Americans – have more of an appetite for Canadian film, and how this moment could serve as the genesis of a Canadian cinematic renaissance. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Back in February, Canadian box office data from 2025 came out, and it wasn't pretty. Well, in 2025, it was actually a very distressing story. According to a report issued by Telefilm earlier this year, homegrown films, meaning movies that were made here and more importantly were financed here, brought in around $13.9 million at the domestic box office. that's down by about 40% from 2024 the year before, where it was 23.5 million. So that's, it's quite a sharp decline. That's Barry Hertz. He's the Deputy Arts Editor for the Globe and the film editor.

But the good news is that while we were worrying about what was happening last year, things have been changing during the first three months of 2026. We've seen five homegrown Canadian films cross the $300,000 mark at the Canadian box office. Now, that might not sound like much, but talking with people in the industry and having a larger picture view of things, many people cannot quite recall the last time so many Canadian films overperformed in such a short amount of time. Today, he's here to talk about why we've seen such a positive shift and what we can learn from the success of the Canadian movies breaking expectations. I'm Cheryl Sutherland, and this is The Decibel from The Globe and Mail. Hi, Barry, thanks so much for joining me today.

Thank you so much for having me. Barry, it sounds like 2025 was a particularly bad year for Canadian films at the box office, but in 26, we're seeing a turnaround. So can you tell me, what's going on? Well, yeah, I mean, I would love to see this kind of success story continue throughout the year, but so far, we've had these five films that have come out. Leading the pack is Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie. And that has, you know, really, I think, captured a lot of the attention of a certain corner of the internet. And it's taken up most of the oxygen when we talk about Canadian films. But in the background,

there are these other films that are also succeeding beyond expectations. And when I say expectations, I mean, there's a low threshold for kind of success at the Canadian box office because we're not America. We are not nearly as densely populated as that market. So when a movie that's made in Canada and manages actually to get a good number of screens in Canada goes above. 100,000, 200,000, 300,000 at the Canadian box office, that is a mark of success because it's so rarely happens. Okay. So when you talk about success, what I'm hearing here is a certain amount of money at the box office,

but also how many screens that it's being played at? Is that kind of the idea of success in Canada? Yeah, that's exactly it. And so many Canadian films are lucky to get a handful of screens in, you know, major metropolitan in areas for a weekend. A lot of films don't even make it to theaters at all, Canadian ones. They maybe get like a one-and-done date at an independent, and then they are sucked into the streaming algorithm.

And again, even that's a lucky break. So for these films that we're talking about here, they're getting a hundred and upward of Canadian screens, which is, I would say, equivalent to about as wide a release for a non-blockbuster product in Canada as you could get. I won't leave listeners hanging for too much longer because you keep saying these films and we will tell you what the films are. But before we do go with the films, you talked about Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie as a very successful film. How much did that movie make in its first weekend? So Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie, made $350,000 on its opening weekend in Canada alone.

which makes it the biggest live action English language Canadian film at the Canadian box office since Blackberry in 2023, which was directed by Matt Johnson and Nirvana is directed by Matt Johnson. We can call Matt Johnson kind of the engine that is driving a lot of the success around here. And many would agree. So, yeah, it's very unique in that regard. Okay. So that's a very successful movie. What are the other four that you're talking about here?

So the other four are, and they represent a wide range of different types of movies. There is Youngblood, which is a remake of a 1980s hockey movie. My whole life. You think I have an ad coach at single me have? You're the best we got, but do you have what it takes to lead the team? There is undertone, which is a supernatural thriller of focus. focusing on a podcaster. Welcome to the Undertown podcast, where we talk about all things creepy.

I'm your in-house skeptic, Evie Babbage, and Michael Lieber co-host says he has a real treat for us today. We're listening to 10 mysterious audio recordings from an anonymous email. So perhaps you can relate. Speaking of my language. Yeah, exactly. There is Charlie the Wonder Dog, which is an animated family film about a dog who becomes from my understanding, superheroic. And then there is Whistle, which is a Canada-Ireland co-production about, yes, you guessed it, a haunted whistle.

Wow. Okay, very specific. Okay, so today we're going to talk about three of those movies and what we can learn from their success. We're going to talk about Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie, Youngblood, and Undertone. Before we do, I want to ask you something about this moment, particularly. Barry, because back in the fall, you wrote about how now is the time to capitalize on this moment of Canadian pride. Of course, there's Canadian pride because of Trump, you know, the tariffs,

of course, the threats to annexation. So over the past year or so, Canadians have been more interested in celebrating what it means to be Canadian. And there is an opportunity here to reinvigorate our film industry. Is that what's happening here with these films or is this just a coincidence of timing? I think it is mostly a coincidence of timing, a great coincidence of timing, because you have to remember when we're talking about films, these take years and years of development. I mean, Nirvana has been ostensibly in the works ever since the guys behind it started their cult web series two decades ago. Oh my goodness. It's just a matter of these things getting into the theater at a neat moment of time.

timing when we're all talking about cultural sovereignty and there is a little bit more of genuine passion in terms of supporting Canadian culture. Whereas before I find, you know, working and covering the sector, there's such a prevalent attitude among consumers about, oh, that's Canadian. I don't need to see that. That's like instantly boring. No, thank you. So we're having a lucky break here. But, you know, it's not just luck. There have been. And as you say, like there are lessons to take away from these successes. And there are things that the producers and distributors of these films have been doing quite right and quite sharply that have been advantageous to this elbows up era. Okay.

Let's learn about the lessons from these successful movies. And let's start with, I'm going to say the name again, Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie. This has been out since the end of February. What is it about that movie and the rollout? that is contributing to its success. So that movie, you know, it came into the general release marketplace in February with riding a really good wave of hype. It premiered at the South by Southwest Festival last year in Austin, Texas.

I was there for that world premiere. It was a madhouse. It was one of the wildest screenings I've ever seen. The audience was just drowning the film in laughter. And that made it get a pickup from a... a U.S. distributor called Neon. And Neon has a great track record when it comes to promoting independent film and more idiosyncratic titles.

They're behind Anora Best Picture Winner, Parasite, Best Picture Winner. Yeah, so they've got real strong credibility. And they have a great marketing machine inside of them that has the prowess and the resources to spread awareness wide. And while Nirvana has a Canadian distribution. and has had that Canadian distributor from the start, Elevation Pictures, which has done a great job in spreading awareness. They were also able to piggyback off the marketing efforts of Neon in the States. So that marketing campaign bled over into Canadians.

So we weren't just getting whatever elevation was picking up and whatever the Canadian plan was, so to speak. But we were also seeing crossover effect from the U.S. So that just all makes it more of a moment. It just makes it all that much more exciting and much more of a you got to be there kind of feeling. And that really I felt, you know, drove audiences to the film. Right. Okay. And so just to give a little taste of this movie, this is about a band that's trying to secure a show at the Rivoli, which is this Toronto place where people can play music.

It's just for people to know it's not really hard to get into, but they're just trying to make it. into this place. Time machine plan. This is going to be the last plan you and I ever have to do. And as far as I'm concerned, Nirvana the band is playing the Rivoli tonight. And the plot heavily revolves around local landmarks in Toronto, like the CN Tower, for example. So it's a very Toronto-centric movie. How do you translate a movie like that for an American audience and I guess, you know,

even a Canadian audience outside of Toronto? I mean, I think you don't is kind of the trick. And the great thing about the film is how unapologetically, explicitly, Toronto it is. It does not set things up for an American audience by explaining like, hey, that's, hey, CNN Tower. That's Canada's tallest freestanding structure. And once it was upon the world until, you know, something in Dubai open. It just is there. And you just kind of have to know what it is.

And there are, you know, a lot of, I hesitate to use the term Easter eggs or reference, you know, like kind of sly references to Toronto lore. But it is just because this is a property that has been, you know, born and bred in Toronto and is so Canadian, they just went for it. And they decided that audiences would catch up if they weren't already aware. And they did. It was that love, that specificity of place that really sets it apart from so many American movies and so many Canadian movies that don't want to appear too Canadian less the fear of, you know, scaring off Americans who don't like the color of our money. We'll be right back. Okay, let's talk about Youngblood. This was actually a remake of a 1986 movie.

It's about hockey, Canada's favorite pastime, favorite sport pastime, I guess. Tell me a bit about the film and what kind of lessons we can take away from its success. Yeah, so, I mean, Youngblood, it was an interesting property. It was a, yeah, 1980s film that was set in Canada, but starring Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, Americans. It was financed with American money. Finally, the rights came into the hands of basically a Canadian production company. They worked with the late Toronto filmmaker, Charles Officer, who wanted to. to bring it a different, much more made-in-Canada perspective, specifically examining the pressures

that black Canadian athletes face on and off the rink. We should say, yeah, the start of the movie is an actor that plays a black hockey player. That's right. Yeah. So Ashton James, a rising Canadian performer who's really great in this role as a hot-headed hockey forward. And they, again, they doubled down on Canada. They, you know, set it in Hamilton. They cast Canadians. They made it speak to the Canadian national pastime, as you say. And that was a smart move because, you know, hockey turns out popular in Canada.

It's almost to a shocking degree we haven't had more Canadian hockey films. I mean, the Goon films were very popular in their day. La Bois in Quebec, that's a long-running franchise. But, you know, just considering the cultural overlap, I'm surprised we don't get like a hockey movie every, you know, quarter, at least every year. Yeah. Okay. So that's the story. But let's talk about some of the other elements that played into this movie's success.

There's some Quebec appeal with the marketing. And this film also had some support from telefilm for the rollout. Can you talk about how those elements played into its success and why they're important? Yeah. So it's very important that, you know, to say, you know, to. succeed in the Canadian market is that you have some element that appeals to French Canadian audiences because that's a huge portion of the moviegoing market. And they're very supportive, again, of their own cultural products and cultural talents.

So for this one, you know, the producers were very canny in that they centered Henry Picard, who was a Quebecois actor in a supporting role and made sure, you know, he wasn't, you know, trying to speak English language, like, you know, he's accented performance. There is French dialogue in there. And they put him front and center in the marketing efforts so that Quebec audiences could recognize that there was something for them in this hockey story as well. Now, another crucial part and a good lesson, as you mentioned, is the telefilm angle. So telefilm is, of course, the federal arts funding agency without which basically

90% of Canadian movies would not exist. And, you know, there was a good marketing, promotional kind of a chunk of money that Telefilm makes available to producers, which the Youngblood team took, you know, great care with in using that for community outreach and setting up youth hockey leagues in, you know, underrepresented Canadian communities with, like, the, the hockey league. Hall of Fame in Toronto and developing that goodwill there, which develops word of mouth. And they used it to speak directly to the audience they wanted to engage, but might be out of their reach via traditional marketing.

And especially to do so, you need a lot of money, typically. And, you know, Telefilm had this grant program, which helped them go that extra mile. Okay. That sounds like a really smart way of, you know, talking to different audiences. there. Let's talk about our final movie here, which is undertone. This is a horror movie that's doing quite well. It's shot in Toronto's Rexdale neighborhood. It was produced independently before being acquired by A-24. This is a genre movie. What are the takeaways that we can learn from this one? The takeaway, so this is an interesting case because, as you say, like, it was shot

in Rexdale at the filmmaker's home. It stars, Canadians. It was financed independently with Canadian money. Yet there's not explicitly anything Canadian about it. It is set entirely in that home. We don't know where that home is in the world, but perhaps the Canadian elements of it are more its sensibilities. We're great at making genre films, at horror films, at films that disturb us. Just go ask David Cronenberg about that. And this one came up with a really good twist on the kind of trapped, locked house, like one person trapped in a house and has to face off against all kinds of evil by making it a podcaster who was investigating these series of paranormal recordings that she discovers. And they put a tagline on it that it was the new sound of horror. So that's something

that's a little unique. And that drives audiences there too. And this wasn't made with telefilm money. This was, you know, this showed how you can operate outside the system. if you have a real ingenuity and a killer hook. So, very, of course, it's really great to see Canadian movies succeed. But why does it matter if we have a thriving film ecosystem? I think it matters because of, you know, do we want to be totally overwhelmed by American storytelling? I mean, what is our culture exactly if it is not the stories that we tell one another and the support. that we show our neighbors who are telling those stories.

We want to see our lives represented on screen or interpreted on screen or completely fantasized on screen. And otherwise, there's a lack of mythos that's created in this country. I mean, I feel like Nirvana, the band, the show, the movie, has totally recontextualized Toronto for both those people living in the city, for everybody else in the country, and for the rest of it. of the world. It's made it a very attractive city. You go on Reddit and look up the movie and I do this far too often. But you will say people like, wow, Toronto looks so cool. It's like, is Toronto the new Tokyo? I'm not saying Toronto is the new Tokyo, but we can get there. And movies help spread that message. Barry, it's not often that we're having a good news conversation when it comes to Canadian film. Usually we're talking about things like funding cuts. But is there a sense

here that these recent successes might actually make it easier for other Canadian films to get made? I mean, hopefully, ideally. We could be on the precipice of a moment in which audiences start really demanding this a little bit more fervently and voting with their moviegoing dollars. There's a number of films I feel that are coming up even this year, even this week, that could add to the success stories that we've been talking about today. There's a Myel N. Kicks, a Montreal set rom-com from Canadian filmmaker Chandler Leveck. There's a new Jay Baruchel action movie from director Michael Douse, who did the Goon films many years ago. There's a new horror film in a Violent Nature 2, which is kind of like an avant-garde slasher that did really well when it first came out.

and we have your and my favorite topic, Paw Patrol. Paw Patrol, yay! The cultural phenomenon. My kids grew out of that now. It has a sequel coming out this summer, the Dino movie, and I will, you know, lay down any part of my life and body and bank account to bet that that will be the biggest Canadian film at the box office for this year. I love that.

We can have you on to talk about. the everlasting Pop-a-Troll moneymaker. Just lastly, Barry, if listeners want to go out and see a Canadian film this weekend, do you have any recommendations? I do. I will go back and double down on Mile End Kicks, which opens Friday, April 17th. It is a charming, winsome time capsule look at a certain era of Montreal in 2011. I just don't understand why you have to move to Montreal. You're not even French.

Montreal is the most exciting place for indie rock. And I will also do a quick shout out to another Canadian film, Blue Heron, which is opening next week. And this is directed as a first-time feature from Canadian filmmaker Sophie Romvari. It is a look at a fractured childhood. And there is a way that she tells this story, and I cannot spoil it. but there's a brilliant recontextualization of history and time that goes on in the third act, and it's a stunner. It has been picked up for distribution in the U.S.

It's been getting rave reviews. The New Yorker just published a hugely warm rave earlier this week. I feel that could go the distance. Okay, well, Barry, thank you so much for the recommendations, and thanks so much for coming on the show today. My pleasure. That was Barry Hertz, the Deputy Arts Editor and Film Editor for the Globe. That's it for today. I'm Cheryl Sutherland.

Our associate producer and intern is Emily Conahan. Our producers are Madeline White, Rachel Levy McLaughlin and Mikhail Stein. Our editor is David Crosby. Adrian Chung is our senior producer, and Angela Pachenza is our executive editor. Thanks so much for listening.