Alliance Films hopes the tween girl appeal of Kit Kittredge: An American Girl will find an audience alongside the older and mostly male moviegoers who are expected to line up to see Will Smith in Hancock — continuing the distributor’s run of luck at the box office that includes Sex and the City and Cruising Bar 2.

The U.S. film stars Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) as a spunky Depression-era girl who defends the rights of the homeless. It is directed by Canuck Patricia Rozema, best known for her work on Mansfield Park and 1987’s acclaimed I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing.

It is the fourth in a series of titles based on the American Girl line of books and dolls, all of which have shot in Toronto, and the first to see theaters.

Mark Slone, SVP at Alliance Films, says it’s a good week to release Kit, which arrives on 70 screens in Canada following an impressive opening weekend in the U.S. through Picturehouse. Kit, which expanded to 1,800 U.S. screens on Wednesday, averaged $44,000 from five screens over its June 20 debut weekend, according to Box Office Mojo.

‘There are a lot of family films this summer…however, this particular week it’s the only family-oriented film,’ says Slone. It is hoped the ‘excellent critical response’ from U.S. critics will drive more business for Kit.

‘We’re not over-screened at all on the movie, so I think it’s got room to grow if the business warrants it,’ he says.

Critics are overwhelmingly positive in their praise of Kit, with The New York Times calling it a ‘classy, heart-on-its-sleeve movie,’ while The Hollywood Reporter says it offers ‘solid, kid-friendly storytelling.’ Variety applauds Rozema for doing an ‘excellent job navigating the film’s tonal shifts.’

Closer to home, however, Kit Kittredge has already been a sore point with some members of the press, following Alliance’s ban of Globe and Mail critics from its preview screenings in retaliation for the paper’s scathing reviews of Sex and the City, as reported in yesterday’s Playback Daily. Rozema herself intervened to get Globe critics into this week’s Kit screening, and Toronto critics have been up in arms.

While Slone refused to comment on the affair, the ban has reportedly subsequently been lifted.

Hancock will dominate theaters as it plays on nearly 4,000 screens in North America, with Will Smith looking to repeat the success of Men in Black and Independence Day, which also opened on July 4 weekends.

Reviews for the superhero-on-the-skids movie have been mixed, however.

Also opening Friday is the drama Brick Lane, about a Bangladeshi woman who arrives in London for an arranged marriage. It will play at Toronto’s Cumberland and Vancouver’s Tinseltown through Mongrel Media.