The biopic Shake Hands with the Devil crossed the $1-million mark at the Canuck box office last week for distributor Seville Pictures, despite an increasingly competitive fall season laden with upscale titles.

The story of former Lt.-Gen. Roméo Dallaire’s time amid the Rwandan genocide, starring Roy Dupuis, arrived Sept. 28 on 100 screens and with a promotional push of $2 million. But the picture, which also had a high profile at the Toronto festival, did not produce the intended splash, and has had a long, slow march into the seven figures. It remains on about 20 screens this week.

‘Would we have hoped for more? Absolutely,’ Seville co-president David Reckziegel tells Playback Daily. ‘But the marketplace is so competitive… there’s like five films coming out every week now, and many are upscale films going after the same market.’

Shake Hands arrived amid a wave of ambitious war stories — The Kingdom, Rendition, In the Valley of Elah — that many have blamed for the generally poor returns at this fall’s box office. Reckziegel also notes that Oscar contenders, which traditionally arrive later in October or November, are coming out earlier.

‘Going by past years’ experience, [Sept. 28] would have been a good release date, but it turned out to be more competitive than we expected this year,’ he says. Shake Hands played opposite high-profile titles including Eastern Promises, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and Michael Clayton.

But Seville is pleased with the results, he says, adding that ‘not many Canadian films get past the million mark.’

The company is gearing up for the DVD release of Shake Hands, set for Jan. 29. Reckziegel says extras include an ‘elaborate’ commentary track featuring Dallaire, director Roger Spottiswoode and the film’s producers. The DVD also includes a ‘making-of’ segment and will focus on the difficulties of shooting the $15-million feature in remote locations in Rwanda.

‘There’s still a huge awareness and demand for the film. I know our DVD numbers are going to be stronger,’ predicts Reckziegel. Seville is still firming up details on how many units will be shipped.

Shake Hands bumped Odeon Films’ Promises back to second place on the homegrown chart for the week ending Nov.1, with a box-office total of $2.8 million after seven weeks. Rounding out the top five is Christal Films’ Les 3 p’tits cochons and Le Ring, and Odeon’s Silk.