– Fuelled by a groundbreaking, event distribution model over three weeks in December, Canadians fill up on Corner Gas: The Movie on multiple screens: in-theatre, television, online, and DVD and Blu-ray –

TORONTO (January 19, 2015) – Nearly 60,000 moviegoers. More than 7 million TV viewers. More than 130,000 video starts. Tens of millions of social media impressions. And 56,000 DVD and Blu-ray units shipped. Canadians renewed their love affair with the gang from Dog River on multiple screens last month, as Corner Gas: The Movie pumped out the laughs stronger than ever. Just as it did when it began 10 years ago, the smash hit Canadian television franchise CORNER GAS continued to blaze new trails.

In partnership with Telefilm Canada, Bell Media, Cineplex Entertainment, and Executive Producers Brent Butt, Virginia Thompson, and David Storey, Corner Gas: The Movie is a 90- minute feature film that established a groundbreaking event distribution model that gave fans the opportunity to experience the film on multiple platforms over three weeks last month. Each platform offered audiences a unique CORNER GAS experience. The forward-thinking project engaged viewers in all regions of the country, promoting Canadian content and supporting homegrown talent on several screens during the holiday season: a Cineplex Front Row Centre Event, followed by premieres on The Movie Network, CTV, CTV Two, The Comedy Network, CTV GO, CraveTV, and then a DVD release. The result was maximum exposure for fans across the country.

“Rather than waiting a year between theatrical and broadcast, we distributed the film across all platforms over three weeks and offered unique experiences on each platform,” said Executive Producer Virginia Thompson. “The strategy allowed us to build audience excitement and momentum. Everyone took a risk and tried something new with this film. No one knew if it would work. The good news is that it worked for both fans and investors.”

Highlights from the new and innovative multi-platform event release model include:

Cineplex Front Row Centre Event

•   Corner Gas: The Movie made its sold-out theatrical debut as a Cineplex Front Row Centre Event opening in 102 Cineplex, Landmark, and independent theatres, December 3-7, 2014. The movie returned by popular demand to 38 select theatres, December 12- 14.
•   Nearly 60,000 moviegoers attended the eight-day engagement for a total box office gross of $694,212, making it one of the most popular attractions of the year for a Canadian movie.
•   The in-cinema event included surprise cast appearances in theatres across the country, giveaways, a CORNER GAS warm-up show hosted by Brent Butt, and a special closing credit sequence which included bloopers, out-takes and footage of fans across the country singing the CORNER GAS theme song.
•   The interactive in-cinema event attracted lively audiences who sang en masse to the CORNER GAS theme song and “O Canada” and regaled the film with applause and standing ovations.

“Corner Gas: The Movie provided a unique out-of-home experience which generated some of the biggest weekend box-office numbers of the year for a Canadian movie,” said Michael Kennedy, Executive Vice President, Filmed Entertainment, Film Buying for Cineplex Entertainment. “Audiences truly loved sharing the experience of this movie in our theatres!”

Television

•  Following its theatrical release, Corner Gas: The Movie returned to the network that made the franchise a household name. Broadcast premieres on CTV and CTV Two (Dec. 17), The Comedy Network (Dec. 22) and The Movie Network (Dec.8-13) delivered a cumulative average audience of 3.3 million viewers, with an overall reach of 7.38 million viewers who watched some or all of the movie.

•  The super-simulcast premiere of Corner Gas: The Movie, which was accompanied by a Tweet Up (live tweeting by the cast and producers), delivered a final audience of 2.1 million viewers on CTV and CTV Two, up 14% from preliminary overnight data. It ranks as the most-watched Canadian movie on TV in 14 years and the most-watched Canadian scripted program since the FLASHPOINT series finale in December, 2012.
• An all-new ETALK preview special, ETALK PRESENTS CORNER GAS: THE MOVIE, aired leading up to the network premiere of the movie and delivered 832,000 viewers, making it the highest overnight audience for an ETALK special this season.

“Released on multiple screens, CORNER GAS fans embraced the franchise and the film like never before,” said to the cast and the entire production team for delivering a wonderful movie that fans can truly be proud of, and of course our partners as well for all their hard work, collaboration, and effort to help release the film to Canadians.”

Online

•   The movie was played 130,695 times on the network’s digital platforms CTV.ca, CTV GO, and CraveTV.
•   The movie was the first Canadian program to receive a first-look screening on Bell Media’s CraveTV when the premium subscription TV streaming service launched December 11.
•   Cornergasthemovie.com received 183,099 unique visitors, with 25,063 new e-mail subscribers. The Light Up The Map promotion received 38,253 votes and lit up 83 cities across Canada.Special Collector’s Edition DVD and Blu-ray

•   Released in Canada on December 16, 2014 by Prairie Pants Distribution and Video Services Corp. (VSC), Corner Gas: The Movie’s special collector’s edition DVD and Blu-ray made the Top 10 DVD list in Canada the week of December 15-21 and was the #1 top selling Canadian DVD title that week. Demand was so great additional units were produced.
•   The disks feature the theatrical version of the film along with extended closing credits and exclusive bonus features including cast and crew commentary, behind-the-scenes interviews, extended scenes, trailers, and more bloopers, out-takes and sing-a-long mashups.

“We are thrilled with the response from retailers and consumers for Corner Gas: The Movie,” said Jonathan Gross, President of Video Services Corp (VSC). “We shipped nearly 56,000 units of the film on disc to Canadian stores and sales were strong over the holiday period. The multi-platform release was an experiment that worked very successfully, thanks to Canada’s love of Dog River.”

Social Media

•  #CornerGasMovie trended on Twitter worldwide during the super-simulcast on CTV and CTV Two on December 17 and continued trending in Canada the following morning. Phil King, President – CTV, Sports, and Entertainment Programming. “A heartfelt thank you to more than 10,700 mentions of CORNER GAS-related terms were tweeted in the 24 hours surrounding the super-simulcast, generating more than 22.7 million estimated impressions.
•  #CornerGasMovie trended on Twitter in Canada on three occasions:
  •  May 20, when the movie and the Kickstarter campaign were officially announced o October 2, the launch date of the Teaser Trailer, and Light Up The Map of Canada campaign encouraging fans to bring the movie to their hometown theatres
  • December 17, the date of the Tweet Up and super-simulcast premiere on CTV and CTV Two.
• From May 20, 2014, the date the movie and Kickstarter campaign was officially announced, to the week ending January 7, 2015, the movie’s Facebook page saw 4 million impressions. On Twitter, the keywords @CornerGas, #CornerGasMovie and “Corner Gas” created 220 million estimated impressions from 65,258 Twitter mentions – all by 34,797 users.

Corner Gas: The Movie is an inter-provincial co-production produced by Corner Gas The Movie (ON) Inc. and Corner Gas The Movie (SK) Inc. in association with Bell Media, Telefilm Canada, Cineplex Entertainment, Tourism Saskatchewan, Creative Saskatchewan, the Canada Media Fund, the Bell Fund, Cogeco, Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit Program, Ontario Media Development Corporation Film Fund, and Prairie Pants Distribution Inc. CORNER GAS is distributed worldwide by Prairie Pants Distribution. The collector’s DVD and Blu-ray is distributed in Canada by Video Services Corp. (VSC). The online initiatives were spearheaded by Executive Producer Virginia Thompson in association with Smiley Guy Studios and Innovate by Day.

About Prairie Pants Distribution

Prairie Pants Distribution Inc. is the worldwide distributor of Corner Gas: The Movie. The company is owned and operated by CORNER GAS Executive Producers Virginia Thompson (Vérité Films: CORNER GAS, INSECURITY, RENEGADEPRESS.COM and INCREDIBLE STORY STUDIO), Brent Butt (Sparrow Media: CORNER GAS, HICCUPS and NO CLUE) and David Storey (Aslan Entertainment: CORNER GAS, HICCUPS and KEEP YOUR HEAD UP KID: THE DON CHERRY STORY, BLACKFLY).

About Telefilm Canada

Telefilm is dedicated to the cultural, commercial and industrial success of Canada’s audiovisual industry. Through its various funding and promotion programs, Telefilm supports dynamic companies and creative talent here at home and around the world. Telefilm also administers the programs of the Canada Media Fund. Visit telefilm.ca and follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/telefilm_canada or on Facebook at facebook.com/telefilmcanada.

About Cineplex Front Row Centre Events

Brought to you by Cineplex Entertainment, Front Row Centre Events bring world-class entertainment to local Cineplex Entertainment theatres and other participating locations. Presented in high-definition with digital surround sound, guests can experience the best in original one-night only and series-based programming. With the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series, Broadway productions, live broadcasts direct from the stage of London’s National Theatre, dance performances, classic films, concerts, live sporting events and documentaries, Front Row Centre Events put guests in the centre of the action on the big screen. Front Row Centre Events also serves as a Canadian distributor for select genre titles. Visit www.cineplex.com for more information.

About Bell Media

With passion and an unrelenting commitment to excellence, Bell Media creates content and builds brands that entertain, inform, engage, and inspire audiences through the platforms of their choice. Bell Media is Canada’s premier multimedia company with leading assets in television, radio, out-of-home advertising, and digital media. Bell Media owns 30 local television stations led by CTV, Canada’s #1 television network; 35 specialty channels, including TSN and RDS, Canada’s most-watched specialty channels in English and French; and four pay TV services, including The Movie Network and Super Écran. Bell Media is also Canada’s largest radio broadcaster, with 106 licensed radio stations in 54 markets across Canada. Bell Media owns Astral Out-of-Home, one of Canada’s most dynamic and innovative out-of-home advertising companies with a network of more than 9,500 advertising faces in Québec, Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia. Bell Media also operates more than 200 websites; delivers TV Everywhere with premium subscription on-demand streaming service CraveTV, as well as its innovative GO video streaming services including CTV GO, TMN GO, and TSN GO; holds an equity stake in digital startup Hubub; is partners in Cirque du Soleil Media, a joint venture with Cirque du Soleil; and owns Dome Productions Inc., a multi-platform production company. Bell Media is part of BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada’s largest communications company. For more on Bell Media, please visit www.bellmedia.ca.

About Video Services Corp.

Founded in 1993 by former rock critic Jonathan Gross, Video Services Corp. (VSC) is a leading independent all-platform film distributor with offices in Toronto and Los Angeles. VSC’s DVD catalogue includes CORNER GAS, SHARKNADO, RICHARD LEWIS: BUNDLE OF NERVES, and DON CHERRY’S ROCK’EM SOCK’EM HOCKEY series. Recent theatrical releases include Union Square, with Oscar® winner Mira Sorvino, Alan Partridge, starring Steve Coogan, Israeli horror sensation Big Bad Wolves, and Cannes Selection Life Itself.  VSC’s 2015 slate includes TIFF Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award winner What We Do In The Shadows, Cannes Un Certain Regard winner White God, and Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Script winner Stations of the Cross. Visit www.videoservicescorp.com, facebook.com/videoservicescorp or twitter.com/vidserv for more information.