The story remains the same at the domestic box office, with four of the top five Canadian films coming from Quebec.

The $4.7-million Quebec feature Le Dernier tunnel, produced by Pierre Gendron and Christian Larouche, rose to the number-one spot in the box-office chart in its opening week. From writer/director Erik Canuel, the suspense thriller grossed $557,396 at 63 theaters after its March 12 release by Christal Films Distribution, for an average of $8,848 per theater.

By comparison, during its first week in theaters, The Blue Butterfly averaged $5,399 per theater and after four weeks, its average dipped to $3,726. The English-language feature from Lea Pool is distributed by Odeon and grossed over $1.4 million as of March 18, when it remained at 67 theaters.

After winning the Oscar for best foreign film, Les Invasions barbares, which brought in $4.6 million on 136 screens over its opening weekend last June, has boosted its overall box-office take to $7.1 million. After 43 weeks on the big screen, the Odeon release is playing at 46 theaters, down from 81 in the first weeks after its Oscar win.

Also from Quebec, Les Triplettes de Belleville remains at 19 theaters, 13 weeks after its Dec. 19 release by Odeon. As of March 18, the animated feature’s total take was $978,161.

The only feature produced by English Canada to make the top five is The Snow Walker, released by Lions Gate March 5. Over its first two weeks, Snow Walker grossed $113,452 and as of March 18 was playing at 16 theaters.

By comparison, Love Sex and Eating the Bones, released by ThinkFilm, has grossed more than $100,000 from seven prints over three weeks. The relative success is due in part to the Toronto distributor’s decision to channel its marketing budget directly to audiences by offering a $6 rebate at theatrical screenings rather than buying ad space.

The film brought in $19,274 over the weekend of March 19 for a per-screen average of $2,753, compared to its opening weekend gross of $32,648 for an average of $4,081. ThinkFilm president Jeff Sackman says the rebate offer, which was scheduled to expire March 19, has been extended indefinitely and that this strategy is definitely something ThinkFilm will consider for additional releases.

Meanwhile, after four weeks at number one, The Passion of the Christ, the most gruesome account of a Bible story to date, has been replaced by Dawn of the Dead, a remake of the 1979 undead tale starring Sarah Polley, which shot in Toronto last August. The gory flick, from first-time feature director Zack Snyder, raked in US$27.3 million over its opening weekend. Universal Pictures released Dawn of the Dead on March 19.