The news had the effect of a bomb in the middle of the cinema: Entertainment One ceases the distribution of films in theaters in Canada. This abrupt decision has a direct impact on Les Films Sevilla, a subsidiary of eOne, several of whose employees had to be made redundant and leave their offices on rue Saint-Antoine. Since the merger with Alliance Vivafilm 10 years ago, Les Films Seville has been the great leader in film distribution in Quebec.
Posted yesterday at 10:29 p.m.
By confirming the news to The Press, Patrick Roy, president of Seville Films and president, cinema distribution, of Entertainment One, did not reveal many details. The latter leaves his functions, his contract having ended this week.
“Seville continues to exist,” he said. Some employees keep their jobs, particularly in the technical and financial sectors. There is also still a team in place for catalog management. The changes announced on Tuesday only affect theatrical distribution. »
According to the Business Register, Les Films Sevilla has between 50 and 99 employees in Quebec.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
The facade of the building housing the Seville Films offices
It was also impossible for us to obtain a statement from eOne about the reasons that led the company to this decision, taken in high places.
Recall that in 2019, shortly before the pandemic, the company Hasbro acquired Entertainment One for about 4 billion dollars. The pandemic has had a profound impact on the movie industry.
Monday evening at Place des Arts, in front of a crowd of guests, Les Films Sevilla presented their most recent Quebec film, the dramatic comedy Vanishing lines by Catherine Chabot and Miriam Bouchard. The film was also presented Tuesday evening in Quebec at the Le Clap cinema. For a while late Tuesday afternoon, it was rumored that this presentation would not take place, but verification made, the film was presented as planned. In addition, its distribution, starting July 6 in several theaters in Quebec, is not compromised, we were told. All contracts will be honored.
Shock, but…
On Tuesday, in the world of production and distribution, this announcement was greeted with a mixture of shock and sadness, but also with restrained astonishment. The observers in the environment could clearly see that something was happening.
“When we found out that Patrick [Roy] was not at the Cannes Film Festival, we asked ourselves questions, ”said producer and distributor Christian Larouche (Films Opale), who worked closely with Seville. “We were looking at their list of upcoming movies and there wasn’t much. But I find it very sad to see what is happening, for this old company and for the employees. When a colleague has difficulties, it is never good news. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY SEVILLE FILMS
Léane Labrèche-Dor, Catherine Chabot and Mariana Mazza are the headliners of Vanishing lines.
Mr. Larouche knows what he is talking about. His company had significant financial difficulties in the early 2010s, and Seville bought out its catalog of Quebec films. Mr. Larouche intends to recover his titles when the rights of Seville come to an end. “I think I still have 15 to 20 titles in their catalog,” he said.
“I am very sad, said producer André Rouleau (Caramel Films). It’s not good news for producers to have one less distributor. »
Can’t say it was a big surprise. For some time, one felt that Seville’s appetite for theatrical film distribution was diminishing.
André Rouleau, producer
Mr. Rouleau gives the example of the animated film Valiant (The Bravest), which he co-produced and which Sevilla distributed in an extremely limited register in the country.
” With Valiantwe had a big success in France [1,5 million d’entrées] and Sevilla didn’t even want to distribute it theatrically here, he lamented. I think it did three theaters in Canada; this is called a technical exit. Theater owners have been waiting for this film. They wanted it. Sevilla bought it from us, paid for it and sold it to television. We had been given a guarantee of distribution with advertising, but in the end, the main shareholders did not want to put a penny more for the theatrical distribution. »
Nancy Florence Savard, who produces animated films with her box 10e Ave Productions in Quebec, for its part, believes that Seville has paved the way for 3D animated feature films in Quebec. “Patrick Roy and his team were pioneers with The legend of Sarila released in 2013, she said. They did it again with Nelly and Simon: Mission Yeti in 2018 and a few weeks ago they were selling our films at Netflix. It is with great sadness that I learn this news and I am thinking of all the members of this passionate team dedicated to Quebec cinematography. »
A Quebec giant
Seville Films was created at the end of 1999 following the purchase of the catalog from Behavior, a distributor who had itself bought the catalog from Groupe Malofilm (The Decline of the American Empire). In an interview at To have toone of the three investors, Pierre Brousseau, indicated that one of the first films distributed would be Wines of Bath (became rebels/Lost and Delirious in English) by Léa Pool.
The company was acquired by eOne in 2007. In 2012, eOne bought Alliance Vivafilm and merged the two distributors, which took the name Les Films Sevilla. The catalog, made up of Quebec, Canadian and international films, mostly fiction, but also documentaries, is impressive.
From the Quebec film industry, Seville will ensure the distribution of titles such as 10 1/2, 1987, The seven days of retaliation, Mommy, The dismantling, Fires, Insha’Allah, Mafia Inc., The kingdom of beauty, Louis Cyr: the strongest man in the world, Gabriella, etc. Among the international titles, let us name Divergence, The Hunger Games, John Wick, Paddington and Twilight.
Patrick Roy agrees that the distributor still has several upcoming Quebec titles for which he has committed. “There is a responsibility to respect and there is no need to worry about all this,” he says. There will be no negative impacts on the films and producers we work with. »