Not only did Les Boys IV hold off a resilient Maurice Richard for four weeks in a row since its opening Dec. 9, but it elbowed out Peter Jackson’s King Kong for top spot on New Year’s weekend in Quebec, taking in $419,732 on 101 screens to reach a total of just over $3 million, according to distributor Christal Films.

‘People in Quebec love the comedy and the characters. [Les Boys] is written in their culture,’ says Sébastien Létourneau, Christal’s booking agent.

Létourneau cites an increased in-theater marketing push and a slightly later release date as the only differences in the strategy for the fourth installment of the franchise, in which ‘the boys’ take on a team of ex-NHL stars, including Guy Lafleur. The hockey comedy is on target to come close to the $6-million-plus B.O. of each of its predecessors. ‘The first one opened in November, so that gave it more weeks before Christmas. But for this time of the year, it’s done very well,’ Létourneau says.

Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm’s Richard, a biopic of the hockey legend, found its second wind over the holidays after a month in theaters, increasing its per-screen average from $5,568 in its initial week to $7,268 over the Christmas week. Its total now stands at $2.9 million.

Christal will platform release Le Dernier trappeur (The Last Trapper) in Toronto, Vancouver, and perhaps Calgary – following a modestly successful Quebec run, where it’s taken in nearly $300,000 since Nov. 4. It is tentatively scheduled for March.

Directed by Nicolas Vanier, produced by France’s MC4 Films and coproduced with the National Film Board and Nanouk Films in Quebec, the docudrama about Norman Winther and his wife May Loo (who play themselves in the film) and their life in complete isolation in the Yukon hunting grizzlies and wolves, previously screened at 535 locations throughout France during December 2004.

Looking ahead, black comedy copro Guy X, from Seville Pictures, starring Jason Biggs and Natasha McElhone, opens in Toronto and Vancouver on Jan. 20.