The Canada/U.K. suspense thriller White Noise, starring Michael Keaton, grossed US$24 million across North America over its Jan. 7 opening weekend, making it the second highest grossing film of the weekend behind Meet the Fockers, which generated US$28 million. By comparison, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, another Canadian film that opened wide in the U.S., brought in US$28 million over its first seven days in theaters.

The Vancouver-shot feature is coproduced by local Brightlight Pictures and the U.K. branch of Gold Circle Films in association with Universal Pictures. Brightlight’s Shawn Williamson and U.K.-based Paul Brooks produce.

TVA Films released the film on a whopping 214 screens in Canada, where its total box office sits at $1.6 million, for an impressive average of about $7,500 per screen. The wide Canadian release is commensurate with the film’s release south of the border, where it opened on roughly 10% of U.S. screens.

‘I knew it was a solid film,’ says John Fulton, executive director and VP of distribution at TVA’s Toronto office. ‘And it was a very good date to release a film because there was very little else out there in the way of fresh films.’

Fulton says White Noise will remain at around 214 Canadian screens for at least its first two weeks. Brit Geoffrey Sax directed the film, which shot in Vancouver in August 2003.

Looking forward, TVA will release Don McKellar’s feature Childstar on Jan. 28 and Olivier Assayas’ Clean in Toronto and Vancouver on Feb. 25.

Meanwhile, in Quebec, the newest feature from Montreal’s Cinémaginaire, released by Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm on Dec. 17, has grossed more than $2 million during its first three weeks in theaters.

The fourth feature from director/writer Denise Filiatrault, Ma vie en cinémascope is a biopic about Quebec music-hall legend Alys Robi, starring Pascale Bussières.

As of Jan. 10, the film had brought in more than $2.3 million at the Quebec box office, almost double that of second-placed L’Autre belle-famille (Meet the Fockers), which had grossed $1.24 million at the end of December.

As of Jan. 10, Ma vie en cinémascope was playing on 84 Quebec screens. The feature, produced by Denise Robert and Daniel Louis, shot in Montreal in November- December 2003.

Also maintaining a solid but unspectacular per-screen average at Quebec theaters is Nouvelle France from Les Boys producer Richard Goudreau. The $27-million Canada/France/UK coproduction has grossed more than $2 million since its Nov. 19 release through Canadian distributor Christal Films. Between Dec. 31 and Jan. 6, it brought in an average $3,000 per screen.

The feature from director Jean Beaudin is packed with stars including Gérard Depardieu, Tim Roth and Colm Meaney and is a coproduction from Montreal’s Melenny Productions, France’s Davis-Films, and the U.K.’s UKFS.

Soon to be released by Christal are Maman Last Call on Feb. 11, Le go°t des jeunes filles on Jan. 21, and Daniel and the Superdogs on Feb. 23.