Ghyslaine Côté’s Le Secret de ma mère has managed to pack Quebec cinemas since its July 7 opening, taking in $606,778 on 88 screens in its opening week, for an impressive per-screen average of $6,895.

The film, which stars popular Quebec chanteuse Ginette Reno, appeared to be gaining momentum in its second week, taking in another $280,000 over the July 14-16 weekend, according to distrib Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm – approximately $20,000 more than its first weekend.

The family melodrama, which revolves around revelations learned about a man’s life during the day of his funeral, has been bolstered by ‘excellent word of mouth,’ says AAV SVP Patrick Roy.

‘Ginette Reno is a huge star, there’s no two ways about it. Quebecers love her. We thought the numbers might be a bit soft, given the great weather on opening weekend and the opening of the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel, but Le Secret has performed extremely well. We are at the $900,000 mark in 10 days.’

Meanwhile, Christal Films is hoping the rest of Canada shares Quebec’s penchant for family dramas when it opens Louise Archambault’s Familia on July 28 on one screen in Toronto. The film, which took in more than $400,000 at the Quebec box office, has two struggling mothers shack up together with their teen daughters and shared the award for best Canadian first feature at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Familia will open in Vancouver on Aug. 18.

Alliance Atlantis is also preparing to release the bilingual, two-solitudes, cop-buddy comedy Bon Cop, Bad Cop, about a murder that occurs on the Ontario-Quebec border (see cover story). Bon Cop opens Aug. 4 in Quebec and Aug. 11 in the rest of Canada.

Finally, Capri Releasing is putting off the planned Aug. 4 release of Tideland, Terry Gilliam’s surreal epic which premiered to scathing reviews at last year’s TIFF. Capri says the postponement has nothing to do with the negative press, but is to bring its launch in line with those of the U.S. and U.K. to maximize publicity. Tideland is carried in the U.K. by Revolver Entertainment and by ThinkFilm in the States. *