Don McKellar’s Childstar won four awards from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle, including best Canadian film, best actor and best director for McKellar. It also took five Genie nominations, including best screenplay (see story, p. 2). But despite such critical acclaim, box-office receipts for McKellar’s second feature are not nearly as positive.

Released Jan. 28 by TVA Films in seven Toronto theaters and one in Vancouver, the Rhombus Media-produced film grossed $13,414 over its opening week, for a disappointing per-screen average of just over $2,000. Partway through its second week, the film’s overall take stood at $19,153 from seven screens. By the end of the month, it will also be playing on one screen each in Calgary and Edmonton.

Meanwhile, Serendipity Point Films’ Being Julia jumped back into the number-three spot on Canada’s top-five-grossing homegrown films, with a per-screen of $1,776, in the wake of the best actress Oscar nom for Annette Bening.

ThinkFilm began a platform release of Being Julia on Oct. 15 and expanded to almost 50 screens on Jan. 28 after the nominations were announced. In the 10 days following the announcement, Being Julia grossed an additional $155,000, bringing its total Canadian take to $825,000. As of Feb. 3, the film’s U.S. take stood at US$4.3 million. ThinkFilm projects Canadian figures in the $1.2-million range before the Oscars are presented Feb. 27.