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This is a list of Canadian films which were released in 1996:
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Independence Day is a 1996 American science fiction action film co-written, directed and executive produced by Roland Emmerich, co-written and produced by Dean Devlin. It stars an ensemble cast that consists of Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Margaret Colin, Randy Quaid, Robert Loggia, James Rebhorn, and Harvey Fierstein. The film focuses on disparate groups of people who converge in the Nevada desert in the aftermath of a worldwide attack by a powerful extraterrestrial race. With the other people of the world, they launch a counterattack on July 4—Independence Day in the United States.
Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. She is known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting. Morissette began her music career in Canada in the early 1990s with two dance-pop albums. In 1995, she released Jagged Little Pill, an alternative rock-oriented album with elements of post-grunge. This album sold more than 33 million copies globally, propelling her to become a cultural phenomenon. It earned her the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1996 and was adapted into a rock musical of the same name in 2017. The musical earned fifteen Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical. Additionally, the album was listed in Rolling Stone's 2003 and 2020 editions of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" guide. The lead single, "You Oughta Know", was also included at #103 in their "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
James Eugene Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian known for his energetic slapstick performances. After spending the 1980s honing his stand-up comedy act and portraying mostly supporting roles in films, Carrey gained wide recognition in 1990 when he was cast in the American sketch comedy television series In Living Color (1990–1994). He broke out as a film star after starring in a string of box office hits with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber, which he followed up with Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls and Batman Forever. The success of these five films led to Carrey being the first actor to receive a $20 million salary for performing in films, beginning with The Cable Guy (1996).
Fargo is a 1996 black comedy crime film written, produced and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Frances McDormand stars as Marge Gunderson, a pregnant Minnesota police chief investigating a triple homicide that takes place after a desperate car salesman hires two criminals to kidnap his wife in order to extort a hefty ransom from her wealthy father. The film was an American and British co-production.
The year 1996 involved many significant films. The major releases this year included Scream, Independence Day, Fargo, Trainspotting, The Rock, The English Patient, Twister, Space Jam, Mission: Impossible,Mars Attacks!, Jerry Maguire and a film version of the musical Evita.
William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet is a 1996 romantic crime film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It is a modernized adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name, albeit still utilizing Shakespearean English. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the title roles of two teenagers who fall in love, despite their being members of feuding families. Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo, Miriam Margolyes, Harold Perrineau, Pete Postlethwaite, Paul Sorvino and Diane Venora also star in supporting roles. It is the third major film version of the play, following adaptations by George Cukor in 1936 and by Franco Zeffirelli in 1968.
Nelvana Limited is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded in July 1971 by Michael Hirsh, Patrick Loubert, and Clive A. Smith, it was named after Nelvana of the Northern Lights, the first Canadian national superhero, who was created by Adrian Dingle. The company's production logo is a polar bear looking at Polaris, the North Star.
Daniel Roland Lanois is a Canadian record producer and musician.
Twister is a 1996 American disaster film directed by Jan de Bont from a screenplay by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin. It was produced by Crichton, Kathleen Kennedy, and Ian Bryce, with Steven Spielberg, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, and Gerald R. Molen serving as executive producers. The film stars an ensemble cast that includes Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz, Cary Elwes, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck, Todd Field, and Jeremy Davies as a group of amateur but spirited storm chasers trying to deploy a tornado research device during a severe outbreak in Oklahoma. Twister was released in theaters on May 10, 1996. It is notable for being among the first films to be released on DVD in the United States.
Cinema in Canada dates back to the earliest known display of film in Saint-Laurent, Quebec, in 1896. The film industry in Canada has been dominated by the United States, which has utilized Canada as a shooting location and to bypass British film quota laws, throughout its history. Canadian filmmakers, English and French, have been active in the development of cinema in the United States.
Ivan Reitman was a Canadian film director and producer. He was known for his comedy films, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. Reitman was the owner of The Montecito Picture Company, founded in 1998.
Bruce McDonald is a Canadian film and television director, writer, and producer. Born in Kingston, Ontario, he rose to prominence in the 1980s as part of the loosely-affiliated Toronto New Wave.
Ryan Rodney Reynolds is a Canadian and American actor, producer and businessman. He began his career starring in the Canadian teen soap opera Hillside (1991–1993), and had minor roles before landing the lead role on the sitcom Two Guys and a Girl between 1998 and 2001. Reynolds then starred in a range of films, including comedies such as National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), Waiting... (2005), and The Proposal (2009). He also performed in dramatic roles in Buried (2010), Woman in Gold (2015), and Life (2017). He starred in action films such as Blade: Trinity (2004), Green Lantern (2011), 6 Underground (2019), Free Guy (2021), and The Adam Project (2022), and provided voice acting in the animated features The Croods film series (2013–2020), Turbo (2013), and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019).
In the motion picture industry, a wide release is a film playing at the same time at cinemas in most markets across a country. This is in contrast to the formerly common practice of a roadshow theatrical release in which a film opens at a few cinemas in key cities before circulating among cinemas around a country, or a limited release in which a film is booked at fewer cinemas in larger cities in anticipation of lesser commercial appeal. In some cases, a film that sells well in limited release will then "go wide". Since 1994, a wide release in the United States and Canada has been defined by Nielsen EDI as a film released in more than 600 theaters.
Crash is a 1996 Canadian drama film written, produced and directed by David Cronenberg, based on J. G. Ballard's 1973 novel of the same name. Starring James Spader, Deborah Kara Unger, Elias Koteas, Holly Hunter and Rosanna Arquette, it follows a film producer who, after surviving a car crash, becomes involved with a group of symphorophiliacs who are aroused by car crashes and tries to rekindle his sexual relationship with his wife.
The 16th Genie Awards were held on January 14, 1996, to honour films released in 1995. The ceremony took place in Montreal at Société Radio-Canada's Studio 42.
The 17th Genie Awards were held on November 27, 1996, to honour films released in late 1995 and 1996.
Gramercy Pictures was an American film production label. It was founded on May 20, 1992 as a joint venture between PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Universal Pictures. Gramercy was the distributor of PolyGram films in the United States and Canada and also served as Universal's art-house division. After Seagram's buyout of PolyGram, Gramercy along with October Films and Interscope Communications were merged by Barry Diller to form USA Films in 1999. On May 20, 2015, Focus Features revived the name as a label for action, horror and sci-fi genre films; the label was shut down after the release of Ratchet & Clank on April 29, 2016.
The Genie Award for Best Theatrical Short Film was a Canadian film award, historically presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television through its Genie Awards program to a film judged as the year's best short film. The award has been inclusive of short films in the live action drama, animated and documentary genres.
