The gang from Ocean’s Thirteen made off with $4.2 million and the number-one bragging rights at last week’s Canadian box office, while the latest Pirates of the Caribbean installment fought off Knocked Up to hang on to second, a position it lost south of the border to the hit Universal comedy.
Pirates came in with $3.1 million for Buena Vista, while Knocked Up scored $2.7 million. Knocked Up — well reviewed and, it seems, the first non-sequel hit of the summer — is, however, playing to a much healthier per-screen average than the Johnny Depp comedy, grossing $12,100 per room compared to just under $9,000 for Pirates.
The week ending June 14 also saw the arrivals of the CG Surf’s Up and the torturous Hostel 2, in at numbers five and six for Sony and Maple Pictures, respectively.
The new arrivals sent the Kevin Costner thriller Mr. Brooks, carried here by Odeon Films, all the way down to number eight from fourth place and Away from Her down one notch to number nine, though the Sarah Polley tear-jerker continues to reign, after six weeks, atop the list of Canadian-made titles.
Distributor Mongrel Media says the picture has made more than $1 million in Canada, though MPTAC numbers say it is still short by a few thousand. Mongrel exec Tom Alexander says this is probably due to accounting differences, noting that Mongrel is ‘counting everything’ such as sales through smaller venues and the TIFF Film Circuit. Mongrel is co-distributing with Capri Releasing.
Away from Her is followed on the chart by Christal Films’ A vos marques…Party!, back at number two after 11 weeks and a slight slip, and the wildlife doc La cité interdite, also from Christal. Sharkwater, from Alliance Atlantis, and Un fleuve humain from K-Films Amérique round out the top five.