Zombies and the Irish arrive in full force Friday with the release of Andrew Currie’s comedy Fido, on 70 screens across the country through TVA Films, and of Ken Loach’s acclaimed The Wind That Shakes the Barley, which bows on nine via Christal Films.

Both arrive after successful runs on the festival circuit, Barley having scored last year’s Palme d’Or at Cannes, while Fido played well in Vancouver, Toronto and elsewhere. The zombie comedy by Anagram Pictures stars Scottish comedian Billy Connolly as an undead man-eater who becomes ‘man’s best friend’ to a young boy (K’Sun Ray), to the initial dismay of his mother, played by Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix).

It arrives with a P&A push of $2 million, says TVA Films president Yves Dion, on par with what the Montreal company has spent on some of its recent U.S. releases, including the Diane Keaton comedy Because I Said So.

‘I hate to give box-office estimates, because no one has a crystal ball in this industry, but I feel very good about this film,’ he tells Playback Daily.

In addition to grassroots promotion and ads in local newspapers such as Toronto’s Eye Weekly, TVA partnered with The Comedy Network on Fido contests and giveaways of movie paraphernalia, including ‘zombie containment’ collars, original storyboards, scripts, T-shirts and posters. ‘It’s a major, major campaign,’ he says.

Furthermore, about 150 zombie-clad moviegoers are expected to participate in a parade in Toronto on Friday. The march is organized by the First Weekend Club, a nonprofit group that works to build audiences for Canadian films, brought in by Anagram to aid in the Fido launch.

Fido will have a June release south of the border via Lionsgate Films, which wanted ‘take advantage of summer audiences,’ according to Anagram producer Blake Corbet.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley, meanwhile, opens in markets including Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Quebec and Calgary.

‘Since it’s an Irish film and it’s opening on St. Patrick’s Day weekend, we did some marketing with local pubs, cafés, and the Irish Embassy to get the word out,’ says Joanne Senécal, VP of Christal Films.

The film stars Cillian Murphy (Cold Mountain, Batman Begins) and Padraic Delaney (A Lonely Sky) and provides a controversial depiction of Ireland’s fight for independence in the 1920s. It will expand to Halifax, Victoria, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Sherbrooke and Gatineau on March 23.

The films will be up against new U.S. releases including Sandra Bullock’s thriller Premonition and the Chris Rock comedy I think I Love My Wife.

With files from Marcus Robinson