MONTREAL — Quebec-based Christal Films is living a real-life fairy tale due to the success of its dramatic comedy Les 3 p’tits cochons (Three Little Pigs), which passed the $4-million mark at the box office late last month.

The film, about the infidelities of three brothers, opened Aug. 10 across Quebec and grossed $2.5 million after roughly two weeks.

The pic is doing well because many Quebecers identify with the characters, who begin to question their lives after their mother has an accident, says Christal founder Christian Larouche. ‘I think it’s a realistic story that must reflect a bit about what’s going on with people in the general population.’

Cochons, which marks the directorial debut of Quebec comic Patrick Huard (Good Cop, Bad Cop), may also be doing well because it stars two beloved heartthrobs, Claude Legault (Minuit, le soir) and Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge (Nitro).

Larouche aimed his marketing strategy at the over-25 crowd and ran trailers for the film based on each of the principal characters a year before the flick was released. ‘It was a long-term marketing plan and it paid off,’ he says. Larouche also released the film near the middle of August, when he didn’t have to compete with American summer blockbusters.

He doesn’t know if he’ll release Cochons in English Canada, though the film is screening at the Vancouver International Film Festival, which began last week and runs to Oct. 12