Hollywood studios bring The Bounty Hunter and Diary of a Wimpy Kid this weekend, while E1 Entertainment and Mongrel Media target specialty crowds with The Runaways and Cooking with Stella.

E1 is opening Runaways in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, with plans to expand to other markets in April. The bio/musical about the ’70s teenage band is the feature directorial debut of Ontario’s Floria Sigismondi, best known for her photography and music videos. The film, featuring New Moon co-stars Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, will play on roughly 200 screens stateside through Apparition.

Stella, starring Don McKellar and Lisa Ray, bows on 11 screens in Toronto and Vancouver, while Mongrel plans to extend the comedy to cities including Halifax, Montreal and Winnipeg next week. Dilip Mehta marks his directorial debut on Stella, which he co-wrote with sister Deepa Mehta (Water), about a Canadian diplomat and her chef husband who are posted in Delhi where they meet a wily cook.

Among wide releases, Jennifer Aniston-starrer Bounty Hunter will play on roughly 3,000 North American screens via Columbia, as will family comedy Wimpy Kid from Fox. Universal is releasing sci-fi actioner Repo Men, with Jude Law and Forest Whitaker, on a reported 2,400 screens.

The films will also have to contend with strong holdover and 3D sensation Alice in Wonderland, which continues to top the North American box office with earnings to date of US$221 million.