Montreal: The Gabriel Pelletier comedy La Vie Apres l’Amour has topped the $1 million mark after its first 10 days in Quebec theatres.

Guy Gagnon, president of distrib Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm, says the release will be carefully nurtured to extend throughout the summer period. La Vie ranked second only to Scary Movie in its opening July 7 to 9 weekend, edging out both The Perfect Storm and The Patriot, and pulling in box-office receipts in the order of $450,000.

The 10-day tally as of July 16 stood at $1,050,000. The per-screen take is $13,636.

Vivafilm opened La Vie on 77 screens across Quebec backed by a major media campaign – newspapers, tv, outdoor billboards and buses – valued at close to $500,000, says Gagnon. A single English-subtitled print will be released in Montreal July 28. Broadcast rights have been licensed to Reseau tva.

La Vie was produced by Roger Frappier and Luc Vandal of Max Films and stars Michel Cote and Sylvie Leonard in a Ken Scott-scripted story about an everyday dentist who goes momentarily insane when his wife of 20 years walks out.

Summer openings for local movies are definitely the exception as distributors carefully avoid the onslaught of teen and gore blockbuster traffic from the studios. A year ago, Films Lions Gate released Pierre Falardeau’s rude Elvis Gratton II: Miracle a Memphis. A hit in drive-ins across the province, the film went on to earn $3.8 million at the box-office, second only to Golden Reel winner Les Boys II in 1999. *