Gloomy weather, it appears, helped keep Quebecers indoors and in cinemas over the Victoria Day long weekend, which saw the drama Délivrez-moi enjoy a healthy average of $2,587 on 33 screens. This, despite warnings from Quebec box-office tracker Cineac that the province’s receipts are falling behind those of last year.

Carried by TVA Films and helmed by Denis Chouinard (L’Ange de goudron, Clandestins), Délivrez-moi took in $85,373 over the May 19-22 weekend. Boosted by considerable Quebec star power, it tells the story of an ex-con, played by Céline Bonnier (Human Trafficking), attempting to reconnect with her daughter. Patrice Robitaille (Horloge biologique) and Geneviève Bujold (Dead Ringers) also star.

And yet, Simon Beaudry, president of Cineac, is raising concerns about the province’s cinema earnings, noting that, at the five-month mark for 2006, homegrown Quebec films have earned only 8% of the total box office take. Last year, though exceptional, the share was 18%.

‘I don’t think the situation is alarming quite yet,’ says Beaudry. ‘There haven’t been any blockbusters yet, not on the scale of C.R.A.Z.Y. or The Rocket. Things will probably change this summer, but even if we do have a few hits, we won’t top the 18% mark that we did in 2005.’

Beaudry points to three highly anticipated Quebec summer films that should help tug the province’s box-office figures upward. On June 16, director Richard Ciupka’s Duo, a romantic comedy starring Anick Lemay and Serge Postigo, will be released. On July 7, it will be Le Secret de ma mère, a melodrama about the emotional journey of one woman (Bonnier) who learns various secrets about her mother (Ginette Reno) and father after he passes away.

The industry is also betting on a Two Solitudes-conquering hit with the bilingual cop-buddy comedy Bon Cop/Bad Cop, starring Patrick Huard and Colm Feore as police investigators (one French, the other English), sent to investigate the same murder.

In other box office news, the video-game-inspired horror Silent Hill continues to make noise after four weeks – netting $67,714 over the long weekend, for a Canadian total of $4.2 million, according to distrib Odeon Films.

La Planète blanche, the enviro-doc that Seville Pictures opened on May 5, earned $52,690 for a $2,108 per-screen.