Vincenzo Natali’s Splice has plenty momentum heading into the weekend box office backed by E1 Entertainment and Warner Bros., the latter which picked up the critically well-received sci-fi drama earlier this year at Sundance.

The $25-million Canada/France coproduction also has an impressive cast in Oscar winner Adrien Brody (The Pianist) and local darling Sarah Polley, herself an Oscar nominee for writing on 2006’s acclaimed Away From Her. The duo stars as a hotshot scientist couple who push the limits of science by creating a dangerous hybrid creature named Dren with disastrous results.

Splice opens on 180 screens in Canada and on 2,500 stateside.

Bryan Gliserman, co-president of E1, tells Playback Daily the distributor embarked on an aggressive TV, online and print campaign to the tune of $2-million, despite also having Warner on board the film.

‘We conceived of our marketing plan independent of [Warner] but we were very happy to take advantage of those areas of expertise that they brought,’ he says.

The distributor is not concerned about the congested theatrical market this time of year, as Splice counters strong holdovers including Shrek Forever After and Prince of Persia.

‘This is a different genre than what’s being offered by other distributors and thus we’re able to clearly differentiate the product. It’s beyond timely… science is almost outpacing the story in a weird way,’ Gliserman observes. ‘The dramatic changes that are taking place in our society mirror what’s going on in this movie.’

Splice is exec produced by Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) alongside Steve Hoban (Ginger Snaps) of Toronto’s Copperheart Entertainment and Franck Chorot of Paris-based Gaumont.

Also opening Friday:

• Maple Pictures has the action comedy Killers, starring Ashton Kutcher and Katherine Heigl, out on 230 screens, while it bows on 2,500 screens stateside through Lionsgate

• Kinosmith has the documentaries Land, playing at Toronto’s Royal, and Pax Americana, which bows in Vancouver and Ottawa

• Universal’s comedy Get Him to the Greek, with Superbad’s Jonah Hill, and Fox’s family film Marmaduke round out the weekend’s new Hollywood fare