MONTREAL — Since Cruising Bar 2 was released late last week, the sequel to the cult comedy about four men prowling the bar scene has already drawn more than $1 million at the box office, making it the top-grossing opening for a Quebec film this year.

The picture, which got a jump on the holiday traffic with a 10 p.m. bow on Thursday, beat both Universal’s Wanted and North American champ WALL-E from Disney/Pixar in Quebec over the weekend — pulling in $943,000 from 122 screens, according to box office bean counter Cineac. Wanted followed with $743,000, while WALL-E settled for third place in Quebec at $619,000.

By end of Wednesday, the most recent day for which data was available, the Alliance Vivafilm release had pulled in just over $1.2 million. It stars beloved Quebec actor Michel Côté (C.R.A.Z.Y.)

Produced by Les Productions Vidéofilms, CB2 follows the 1989 film, which grossed $3.8 million at the box office and sold to 22 countries, including Australia, Argentina, Mexico, Germany, Israel, Paraguay, Brazil and Japan.

The same creative team came back for Cruising Bar 2, made for $5.2 million, with Robert Ménard and Côté co-writing and directing along with fellow screenwriter Claire Wojas.

‘The box office is fantastic. But time will tell,’ Côté tells Playback Daily. ‘The business has changed since 1989. At that time, Cruising Bar played for nearly a year — now we’ve got about three weeks,’ says the veteran comic actor.

As in the original, Cruising Bar 2 follows four Quebec male archetypes on their search for love, all played by Côté: Serge the Worm is the badly dressed pock-faced loser; Patrice the Lion is a want-to-be rock star with a hockey haircut; Jean-Jacques the Peacock is an irritating self-absorbed yuppie; and Jerry, ‘the bull,’ is a beer-bellied womanizer who loves his wife but can’t stop fooling around.

Côté says he decided to resurrect the characters for the fun of it. ‘After 18 years, there is a new angle,’ he explains. ‘They are older. Things have changed. If we’d done it sooner it might not have been so interesting.’

Although critics are universal in their praise of Côté’s performance, the film is getting lukewarm reviews in both the English and French press. ‘There are parts that are better than others. We didn’t try to make a perfect film,’ says Côté.

Since mid-June, Côté has been traveling across the province screening the film ‘The public loves Michel. He’s a very engaging performer,’ says Ménard.

Vivafilm execs were unavailable for comment on this story.

An English subtitled version has been released in Montreal, but Côté doesn’t expect the film to make inroads in English Canada. ‘When I walk in east-end Montreal everyone greets me. But in the west part of the city,’ where English speakers tend to reside, ‘I could be in New Dehli. It’s two different worlds.’