{"id":814,"date":"2012-01-13T16:04:34","date_gmt":"2012-01-13T22:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=814"},"modified":"2012-01-13T16:04:34","modified_gmt":"2012-01-13T22:04:34","slug":"canuck-exploitation-guru-john-dunning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bmovienation.com\/?p=814","title":{"rendered":"Canuck Exploitation Guru John Dunning"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Cinepix, launched by Dunning and partner Andre Link in Montreal in the early 1960s, had its biggest success in 1979 with Reitman\u2019s Meatballs, the first huge hit for Canadian film. It grossed $43 million in North America after Paramount picked it up for distribution.With Dunning and Link still at the helm, Cinepix, which also owned a New York distribution arm and a controlling interest in an animation house, was purchased in 1997 by Lions Gate and renamed Lions Gate Films.In 1962, Dunning — who at age 17 took over the family\u2019s small exhibition business when his father died suddenly — and Link produced their first movie, Valerie, a sexy comedy that earned more than $1 million at the box office and held the Quebec box office record for three decades.It was one of the sexploitation films (in Canada, a genre known as \u201cmaple syrup porn\u201d) for which Cinepix would first gain notoriety.<\/p>\n

The company also specialized in horror films, and Cinepix produced two early Cronenberg features: 1975\u2019s They Came From Within (also known as Shivers) and 1977\u2019s Rabid (also known as Rage), starring Marilyn Chambers.\u201cJohn Dunning is the unacknowledged godfather of an entire generation of Canadian filmmakers,\u201d Cronenberg said in June when the Toronto Film Critics Association honored the producer. \u201cI still consider him my movie mentor.\u201dDunning and Link hired Reitman in 1974, and he produced such Cinepix films as Death Weekend (1976), Ilsa, Tigress of Siberia (1977) and Blackout (1978) before scoring big with Meatballs, the summer-camp comedy starring Bill Murray.Denys Arcand, Don Carmody, Larry Kent and Vincent Gallo were among other filmmakers that were nurtured by the company.<\/p>\n

Dunning also produced or executive produced such films as The Mystery of the Million Dollar Hockey Puck (1975), Death Weekend (1976), My Bloody Valentine (1981) and Buffalo \u201966 (1998). More recently, he executive produced the Bloody Valentine remake in 2009.Dunning and Link were honored at the 1993 Genie Awards for their outstanding contributions to the business of filmmaking in Canada and in 2007 were inducted into the Canadian Film and Television Hall of Fame.