Whereas last year’s most successful Canadian movie made its money on domestic screens, 2007’s standout has proven to be a hit internationally.

David Cronenberg’s thriller Eastern Promises has taken in $3.1 million on Canadian screens this year – a remarkable achievement for an English-Canadian film, but far from Bon Cop, Bad Cop’s $12-million haul in 2006. However, while Bon Cop’s two-solitudes tensions are mocked chiefly for the benefit of a Canadian audience, Promises has legs worldwide, having opened festivals in London and San Sebastian, and taken in $40 million around the world as of Nov. 19, with numerous territories yet to launch.

Promises, an 80/20 U.K./Canada copro between Brit Paul Webster and Robert Lantos, boasts a script about the Russian mob in London from Oscar-nominated Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things), a brilliant lead performance from Viggo Mortensen, and Cronenberg’s trademark hyper-realistic approach to violence.

At the 2007 box office here at home, a pair of Quebec titles managed to best Promises: Les 3 p’tits cochons ($4.5 million) – a comedy about infidelity that marks the directorial debut of superstar actor Patrick Huard – and the action flick Nitro ($3.6 million), from C.R.A.Z.Y. producer Pierre Even. Also out of la belle province, Ma fille, mon ange, a drama about the sordid world of pornography, and the teen comedy ¿ vos marques…Party! each surpassed the $2-million mark.

English Canada, meanwhile, saw two more films cross the magic million-dollar threshold: Sarah Polley’s helming debut Away from Her, which has brought in a reported US$6.6 million worldwide and generated Oscar buzz around Julie Christie’s performance as a married woman dealing with Alzheimer’s disease; and Shake Hands with the Devil, a copro between Halifax Film and Barna-Alper Productions about the experiences of retired Lt.-Gen. Roméo Dallaire in Rwanda, starring Roy Dupuis.

But these were among the few major theatrical successes in a year that saw market share for Canuck films in a state of decline in both English and French Canada. Former heritage minister Sheila Copps’ dream back in 2000 to eventually claim 5% of the country’s box office was met in 2005 (5.3%), but for now that appears to be a blip on the radar. This year’s figure (as of Nov. 22) stood at 3.3%, down from 2006’s 4.1%.

The year’s only remaining Canuck release that has a shot of making up major ground is Denys Arcand’s L’âge des ténèbres, which was slated to open in Quebec on Dec. 7.