The multi-award-winner Sharkwater became a very different doc than what Toronto director Rob Stewart originally set out to make.

‘I had never made a film or shot a video camera before…I was trying to come back with a pretty underwater movie,’ he tells Playback Daily. ‘By the time I was editing it, we knew we had something pretty cool.’

Stewart’s ‘pretty underwater movie’ became a phenomenon in Canada after it opened in theaters last year and generated nearly $1 million at the box office for Alliance Films. The film has raked in 26 awards, including a mention in Canada’s Top Ten.

Sharkwater follows Stewart and his crew as they set out to expose the illegal trade of shark fins.

The DVD hits shelves on Tuesday, and Stewart says 40,000 units have been presold in Canada. An Alliance spokesperson would only say that the release is ‘bigger than [Michael Moore’s] Sicko.’ Warner Bros. is handling the DVD release in the U.S.

Meanwhile, the film is making its debut in Europe this month, bowing in France and Germany next week, followed by Spain and Italy.

Stewart, who divides his time between Toronto and Los Angeles, says Sharkwater is opening on 100 screens in France — making it one of the biggest documentary releases in the country’s history. ‘It’s really exciting,’ he adds.

After seven months, the film remains on 60 screens in the U.S., having peaked at 200. Stewart says the film ‘didn’t do as well in the U.S.’ The doc has made US$850,000 stateside to date, according to Box Office Mojo.

Stewart is working on his next enviro-doc, focusing on how humans are going to survive the next 100 years. The film, untitled as yet, will begin shooting in July in about 20 countries. The busy filmmaker is also prepping a TV series based on ocean conservation.

Meanwhile, Toronto distributor Films We Like is opening the hit Australian comedy Kenny this weekend on four screens in Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg. The film, about a divorced thirtysomething plumber, will expand to Calgary, Ottawa and Regina next month. Kenny grossed $7 million at the box office Down Under. The self-distributed comedy Rock, Paper, Scissors: The Way of the Tosser moves to two screens in Toronto after a tour of universities in Ottawa, Halifax and Vancouver.

Among U.S. releases are the George Clooney comedy Leatherheads, from Universal Pictures, the DreamWorks thriller The Ruins, and the fantasy adventure Nim’s Island, starring Jodie Foster and Abigail Breslin, handled by 20th Century Fox. Meanwhile, Paramount is opening the musical documentary Shine a Light — director Martin Scorsese’s concert film featuring the Rolling Stones.