Canadian films earn most of their box office at independent cinemas. For the first time ever, this new study led by the Network of Independent Canadian Exhibitors (NICE) takes a data-driven approach to investigating how their booking decisions are made.
For seven weeks in February and March 2026, 16 independent cinemas across Ontario recorded every title they played and every decision they made about each Canadian film released in that period. This is the first time that data of this kind has been collected in Canada.
The cinemas played an outstanding 223 distinct titles across 648 playdates from 59 different distributors. They also reported on 238 individual booking decisions on 17 Canadian film releases.