The acclaimed animated feature Persepolis reappears in three theaters in Toronto and Vancouver Friday, this time as an English-language version voiced by Sean Penn, Gena Rowlands and Iggy Pop.

Co-written and co-directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, the original French version of Persepolis was released in Canada in January through Mongrel Media.

Director of theatrical releasing Tom Alexander says the film was a success, ringing in about $800,000 overall, but hopes the English version will draw a new audience, plus fans of the original.

Persepolis, about the coming-of-age of a nine-year-old Iranian girl, won the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and was also nominated for best foreign film at this year’s Academy Awards. Penn is featured as the girl’s father, with Rowlands as her grandmother, and Iggy Pop as the voice of her uncle.

‘It’s an added bonus to have these voice talents,’ says Alexander, adding that the English version may expand to other cities. Persepolis has made US$4.2 million south of the border thus far, handled by Sony Pictures Classics.

Meanwhile, Maximum Films is releasing Mexican director Alejandro Monteverde’s drama Bella on 25 screens in cities including Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Kitchener, and Hamilton.

The Dutch-language Ben X, about an autistic teenager who retreats to the world of online games, will bow on four screens in Quebec Friday through Equinoxe Films, and will open in Toronto and Vancouver next week.

Alliance Films is going wide with the teen horror Prom Night, opening on 255 screens, while it bows on 2,400 screens in the U.S. through Sony.

Prom Night will face off against other wide U.S. releases including the Touchstone dramedy Smart People, starring Ellen Page and Sarah Jessica Parker, and the Fox actioner Street Kings, featuring Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker.

Coming up on Tuesday, Peach Arch Entertainment is releasing the DVD for director Uwe Boll’s In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale. Extras on the two-disc DVD include deleted scenes, a photo gallery, and a behind-the-scenes featurette. The $60-million fantasy only managed to bring in $5-million at the North American box office.