December will be busy for Alliance Films, which is opening the thriller Awake and Todd Haynes’ experimental Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There on Friday, followed by the controversial fantasy The Golden Compass next week, while its French sister Vivafilm is readying the release of its hit Nitro on DVD Tuesday.

Producer Pierre Even, of Montreal’s Cirrus Communications (C.R.A.Z.Y.), tells Playback Daily that preorders for Nitro stand at around 75,000 units.

‘That’s pretty good for preorders,’ he says, noting that in comparison, the Cirrus’ hit C.R.A.Z.Y. sold around 100,000 units overall. ‘I think Nitro can do very well as well,’ he adds. The film made $3.5 million at the Canadian box office.

The producers and Vivafilm teamed up with Dr. Pierre Marsolais of Montreal’s Sacré Coeur Hospital for a short documentary about organ donation on the disc for Nitro — which follows a desperate man (Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge) in the race against time to find a new heart for his dying wife.

‘It’s a very touching 10-minute documentary about family members of organ donators who feel that they did not die in vain,’ says Even. The DVD also includes a making-of segment and a music video by rock band The Dizzy Racers.

Meanwhile, The Weinstein Company’s thriller Awake bows on 100 screens via Alliance Films, which is also opening I’m Not There on two screens in Montreal and one screen each in Toronto and Vancouver.

I’m Not There, where seven characters embody a different aspect of musician Bob Dylan’s life and work, will expand to other key cities next week, according to Alliance.

The distributor’s VP of theatrical sales Rob McKenzie says it is also gearing up for the Dec. 7 mega release of the US$180-million fanstasy adventure The Golden Compass, starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.

‘It will be a super-wide release… Lord of the Rings-wide,’ says McKenzie. The film, aimed at children and based on the first book in a trilogy by Philip Pullman, has ruffled feathers for its purported promotion of atheism.