Trailer Park Boys: Get Thee to the International Market

Two things:

I'm not surprised. The Trailer Park Boys opened on some 200 Canadian screens with record box office receipts totally roughly $1.3 Million. The popular potty mouthed TV program that has run for five seasons on Showcase with solid ratings, has consistently been one of the top rated shows in Canada.

Yes, it pains me that this kind of subject matter does so well on our airwaves, but it's also a "cultural export" that puts Canadian programming on the radars of the viewing public in countries such as Iceland, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the US.

What has also not surprised me is that the Trailer Park Boys movie has not yet opened as a film in these countries. US and UK release is simply stated as TBA. I can only guess why. Perhaps the distributors are waiting to see how it does in Canada first, however, you can be assured that foul mouthed depravity on screen usually translates rather seamlessly across borders. The only difference this time is that we're exporting rather than importing.

It's not out of character for a Canadian production with box office potential to not fully realize itself. Look at Vincenzo Natali's Cube. This Hitchcockian/Dystopian thriller has enough going on to rival any Hollywood film. It opened on 16 screens and took in a mere $57,000. According to Box Office Mojo, it's widest domestic release had it on 24 screens. Thankfully it was shored up by it's eventual foreign release. Had a major studio made this movie, as it is, it would've seen $40 million or more. Comparable in quality to Trailer Park Boys, the two Jackass films have grossed over $150 Million combined, and here we're celebrating one percent of that as a record.

Canadian film should be placing more emphasis on marketing. Get Trailer Park Boys on foreign screens. Otherwise, the Americans and Brits will be downloading crappy internet rips of it in no time.