Starting its fifth week of release on more than 65 screens across Canada — of which 43 carry the French-language version and 22 carry the English-language version — Katak the Brave Beluga is swimming along as the most popular Quebec=produced film since the beginning of 2023, with box office receipts surpassing $1.5 million.
10th Ave Productions’ fifth animated feature, Katak the Brave Beluga is an original family story about universal values brought to life by Quebec creatives and performers, delivering both international quality and special charm for locals. The studio previously launched the first 100% Canadian 3D feature film, The Legend of Sarila (2013), as well as Rooster Doodle-Doo, Mission Kathmandu and Felix and the Hidden Treasure.
“What an extraordinary month it’s been! What an outpouring of love, dear audiences, dear kids, dear parents, dear animation fans. Thank you for diving into this adventure, for having come and for continuing to come to movie theatres to see the film. Thank you to Canada’s cinema owners from coast to coast, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, for offering 10th Ave’s fifth feature film to your customers!” Nancy Florence Savard, Producer at 10th Ave, beamed in a statement.
Savard offered congratulations to the film’s French and English voice casts, as well as the screenwriter Andrée Lambert, directors Christine Dallaire-Dupont and Nicola Lemay, art director Philippe Arseneau Bussières, animation director Yann Tremblay, editor René Caron, music composer Uberko and sound designer Jérôme Boiteau. The producer also gave shout-outs to partner studios N’Genious, Studio Élément, Studio Expression and La Belle Équipe and the 200-strong production team that brought Katak to screens, as well as the various funding partners across Quebec and Canada who made it possible and the film’s distribution team.
“It’s a real delight to see the public coming out in large numbers across Canada to discover this 100% Quebec-made story,” added Chantale Pagé, Distributor for Maison 4:3. “Congratulations to the entire creative team, and to Nancy Florence Savard for her vision in offering children stories with which they can identify, in which they can see themselves and grow, while having fun. Bravo!”
Synopsis: Katak the Brave Beluga tells the story of a young Beluga whale who is still grey, though at his age he should have turned white. Because of his late development, he must live among the females, who make things worse by overprotecting him.
When his ailing grandmother confides that she wishes she could see her old true love — whom Katak has never met — one last time, Katak decides to make her wish come true and sets out on a secret journey along the shore of the St. Lawrence toward the Arctic, intent on finding his legendary grandfather.
Over the course of this dangerous journey, Katak teams up with Cyrano, a neurotic sturgeon. Tracked by the river’s most fearsome predator, the notorious killer whale Jack-Knife, Katak forms an unlikely friendship with Jack-Knife’s daughter, Jack-Lynn, who is a vegetarian.
Featuring the vocal talents of Alexandre Bacon, Yves Jacques, Emilie Josset, Ginette Reno, Ludivine Reding, Mario Saint-Amand, Jeff Boudreault, Jérémie Desbiens, Maxime Le Flaguais, Guylaine Tremblay, Marie-Thérèse Fortin, Martin Drainville, Benoit Brière, Justine Major, Carolanne Foucher and many others, Katak the Brave Beluga was originally recorded in the French language.
The English version features performances from Robert Naylor, Terrence Scammel, Richard M. Dumont, Arthur Holden, Skyler Clark, Mark Camacho, Angela Galuppo, Eleanor Noble, Wyatt Bowen, Ilana Zackon, Pauline Little, Jennifer Seguin and Ginette Reno.