Hockey took center stage in Quebec cinemas for the fifth consecutive week, as Les Boys IV edged towards the $4-million mark after a strong Jan. 13-15 weekend take of $160,000 in 71 venues across la belle province. As of Jan. 12, Maurice Richard was a stride behind after seven weeks and more than $3.7 million, while Deepa Mehta’s holdout Water trickled down to 14 screens and third place after an impressive nine-week run, maintaining a strong per-screen average of $5,113.

Elsewhere, the US$16-million videogame adaptation Bloodrayne, directed by Uwe Boll (Alone in the Dark, House of the Dead) and coproed by Vancouver’s Brightlight Pictures, took a hit after its debut in the U.S.

Almost 2,000 release prints were sent out to exhibitors, but less than half that number of exhibs chose to run the film, which took in a scary US$1,200 per screen and has totaled US$2 million over three weeks, resulting in a huge loss even before opening day.

‘Obviously it’s not the success that we hoped for,’ says Brightlight producer Shawn Williamson. U.S. distrib Romar Entertainment CEO Jim Schramm admits that exhibitors had stressed that Jan. 6 would be a tough date to open given post-holiday competition, but his client, German prodco Boll SKG, remained committed to that release schedule.

‘[Exhibitors] gave me 1,890 locations,’ says Schramm. ‘But as we got closer to the date – like a week before – obviously, yeah, I lost a lot of screens. But they warned me ahead of time. They said, ‘Jim, Jan. 6 is not a good day.”

Schramm refuses to point fingers, explaining that moving the date as suggested would have put the film up against fantasy Underworld: Evolution. Williamson adds that Bloodrayne has presold to a number of territories, and the 987-theater release in the U.S. is more than enough to satisfy German investors. ‘At the end of the day, the U.S. numbers may not necessarily mean complete financial ruin of the picture.’

According to Schramm, there are still firm plans for a Canadian release on Feb. 24 to take advantage of the marketing push stateside, but the number of theaters has yet to be determined.

Meanwhile, the Chevy Chase kids pic Goose!, shot three years back in Calgary by Voice Pictures, is still grounded by Odeon Films until further notice. The embattled titular fowl reared its head on the schedule for January, but is buried in the snow again. The long-delayed film has gone through several variations, including giving voice (courtesy of Dave Foley) to the previously silent bird.

The rest of the flock looks promising, though, with black comedy Guy X from Seville Pictures reaching screens on Jan. 20, followed by festival darling Eve and the Fire Horse, distribbed by Mongrel Media. Eve is also the only Canadian feature to screen this month at Sundance.

A Simple Curve, written and directed by BC native Aubrey Nealon and released by Domino Films, rolls out on Jan. 27 in six theaters.

Histoire de famille, a drama covering several generations and 45 years of Quebec history dating back to the Quiet Revolution, also arrives on Jan. 27.