Movie mogul Robert Lantos, who has helped bring films by some of Canada's best-known directors to the big screen, is dipping back into the film distribution business.

Lantos announced Tuesday the formation of two new companies, Maximum Films International and Maximum Film Distribution.

Robert Lantos, seen here at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2005, will launch his new movie distribution project at this year's event.
(Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)

Among his direct competition will be the movie distribution arm of Alliance-Atlantis, the Canadian film and television giant that emerged from the merger of Lantos's firm Alliance Communications with Atlantis Communications in 1998.

Following the merger, Lantos — whose producing credits include Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter, Istvan Szabo's Sunshine and David Cronenberg's new film Eastern Promises — left the corporation and focused on producing films through his independent production company Serendipity Point Films.

Maximum Film International's initial slate will feature several prominent titles to be unveiled during the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival, including:

• Fugitive Pieces, the opening night gala film directed by Jeremy Podeswa.
• My Winnipeg, a documentary written and directed by Guy Maddin.
• Adoration, a new Atom Egoyan film to begin shooting in Toronto immediately after this year's edition of TIFF.

The distribution arm's first set of releases includes Fugitive Pieces, Cannes prize-winner Jelly Fish and Kenneth Branagh's The Magic Flute.

The company has also secured the Canadian rights to all feature films produced by IFC Films, with upcoming releases to include Paranoid Park from director Gus Van Sant and The Flight of the Red Balloon from director Hou Hsiao Hsien.

The two new companies will be based out of Toronto, and each headed up by a former Alliance executive, Charlotte Mickie and Tony Cianciotta.