Although the box-office story remained the same as of Jan. 26, with Les Boys IV and Maurice Richard continuing their dominance in the one-two positions for the seventh straight week ­- both skating past the $4-million mark – Deepa Mehta’s Water stubbornly hung on to the third spot, reaching rarified English-Canadian film heights with a cumulative total of $2 million.

Julia Kwan’s first feature, Eve & the Fire Horse, headed north after screening at Sundance, having claimed the coveted Jury Prize. (Its growing list of kudos also includes an audience award win at the Vancouver film fest.) The weekend numbers after its debut on Jan. 27 were also encouraging, as it took $17,000 on four screens.

‘[Sundance is] going to give us added publicity, which we’ll try to capitalize on,’ says Mongrel Media’s theatrical marketing manager, Danish Vahidy. ‘It did play a little better in Vancouver, but we expected that [given the strong Asian population there].’

As a result, Vahidy expects to expand Eve over the next couple of weeks, with the strategy being to hit every major market in Canada. Added bookings in Toronto and Vancouver will depend on the expansion of Oscar-nominated films.

Despite damning reviews, U.S. film maudit Karla opened its first three days to strong per-screen averages in Toronto of just under $10,000, but posted a dismal reported average of just $924 across 59 screens in Quebec. As of Jan. 30, Christal Films’ release had totaled $303,000, while still showing in eight theaters across Canada.

Christal unspooled Histoire de famille on Jan. 27 in 35 venues to a respectable weekend gross of $105,000. Depending on word of mouth, the generational Quebecois drama set during the Quiet Revolution has a legitimate shot at unseating the incumbent hockey pics.

After a mostly negative response from critics, black comedy copro Guy X stayed in the shadows, opening on a modest three screens to an average of $1,429.

Elsewhere, the release of Thom Fitzgerald’s 3 Needles moved from Feb. 2 to April for rollout in both Toronto and Vancouver. TIFF Canada’s Top Ten choice A Simple Curve, from Aubrey Nealon, was slated to open in six theaters on Feb. 3.