Alliance Films hopes the timely Golden Globe nod for The Young Victoria will help separate it from the pack Friday when it opens opposite James Cameron’s much-hyped Avatar, from 20th Century Fox.

Emily Blunt is up for a best actress Globe for her performance as the 19th-century British monarch in the film by Quebec director Jean-Marc Vallée, which rolls out on 25 screens in cities including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa and Victoria.

‘Ultimately for standout performances like Emily Blunt… the Golden Globes are the first step in establishing audience awareness in the crowded holiday season, which will hopefully pay off at the box office,’ Alliance Films SVP Mark Slone tells Playback Daily.

Victoria, which played as the closing night gala at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, faces strong competition in Avatar, though the sci-fi adventure is likely to court more males than females. It opens on a reported 3,300 screens in North America.

Romantic comedy Did You Hear About the Morgans?, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant, will also try its luck against Avatar, opening on 2,700 screens through Columbia Pictures.

Also opening Friday:

• Mongrel Media has Pedro Almodóvar’s acclaimed Broken Embraces, opening in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, followed by Ottawa next week. It will expand to other cities including Winnipeg in January. The film noir, starring Penélope Cruz, was also recently nominated for a Golden Globe in the foreign film category.

• Mongrel bows documentary Big River Man — about one man’s mad attempt to swim the entire length of the Amazon River — at Toronto’s Royal theatre. The film debuted at Sundance and won the cinematography prize in the World Cinema Documentary program.