Quebec pop star and filmmaker Dan Bigras (Le Ring interieur) opened at the top box-office spot among Canadian films with his gritty take on Montreal street life, La Rage de l’ange – pushing aside Beowulf & Grendel in the week of March 31 to April 6 with a take of $171,730 across Quebec, for a per-screen average of $6,605.

The April 7 weekend brought in $75,000, pushing its total to an impressive $245,000-plus. La Rage – about the lives of street kids – got a solid push from Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm with an extensive ad campaign.

‘I think people are going to see this because of the social issue attached – it’s a powerful film,’ says AAV’s Gabbie Corrente, adding that Bigras, the film’s writer, director and star, has a huge following because of his music. ‘He’s loved for his work in the music industry, and so those followers are built in to the appeal.’

The film will launch in English Canada in May, with a Vancouver premiere.

The March 31 week saw the resilient

second-place Beowulf & Grendel net an additional $34,672 on 20 screens for a total take of $411,000 after four weeks.

The Canada/Japan copro Kamataki held at third, with two screens in Quebec bringing in $9,385. The film, a crowd pleaser and award winner on the festival circuit, opens in Toronto on April 21, and has already earned more than $100,000 at the Quebec box office.

Meanwhile, the true-life period drama Looking for Angelina, about a woman sentenced to hang for killing her abusive husband, opened on March 24 and took in an impressive $7,500 on one screen, breaking in at number five among Canuck films in its first week. It has since expanded to two screens in Toronto.

The comedy-drama Whole New Thing, starring Toronto theater favorite Daniel MacIvor, was to open on April 14. The sci-fi thriller The Limb Salesman will be released by ThinkFilm on April 21, while Alliance Atlantis is hoping for big things with its high-profile English Canada release of the Quebec hockey biopic hit The Rocket, also launching on April 21.

Actioner Silent Hill and Thom Fitzgerald’s AIDS triptych Three Needles will open on April 21, through Odeon Films and Seville Pictures, respectively.