‘Disappointment’ is the word of the day at Alliance Atlantis when speaking about the opening weekend of its much-hyped (and MuchHyped) feature Foolproof on Oct. 3.

Despite critical nods as fine escapist fare, and a big, expensive marketing push, the Odeon Films release only managed to gross about $230,000 on roughly 200 screens. By way of comparison, the Equinoxe Films release Mambo Italiano opened on 129 screens in English Canada on Sept. 19 and generated $600,000.

‘It’s a bit of a disappointment,’ says Mark Slone, Odeon’s VP of marketing and publicity. ‘I still think it has done amazing things for Canadian film. The awareness we’ve created now will pay off through ancillaries. It’s a good start to this program, but it was lower than we had hoped for.’

According to reports, the marketing push around the film was about $3 million, with AAC partnering with some heavy-hitters for promotion to impress its youthful target demo. Partners included Pizza Hut, which launched a promotional tie-in deal, CHUM Television (MuchMusic in particular), which provided on-air promotion, and exhibitor Famous Players, which supplied extensive in-theater advertising.

Simon Beaudry, president of Quebec box-office tracking operation Alex Films, reports Foolproof was able to wrangle $54,000 (net, without taxes) Quebec dollars – almost a quarter of its first weekend take.

Meanwhile, Mambo Italiano continues to do well in Canada. At press time, Mambo had taken in a cumulative $4.7 million in Canada, plus another US$500,000 in the U.S. It opened in Quebec on June 6 and had earned around $3 million before opening in the rest of the country on Sept. 19, in addition to its limited release in the U.S. It is still running on about 160 screens throughout North America.

At the Quebec box office, neither Foolproof nor Mambo could touch French-language thriller Sur la Seuil over its Oct. 3 opening weekend. It took in a healthy $431,000-plus on 70 screens. Meanwhile, the current Quebec box-office success story, La grande seduction, which opened in Quebec July 11, now has the distinction of being the second highest-grossing homegrown film in Quebec box-office history, having accumulated nearly $6.5 million net, after the weekend of Oct. 3. The original title-holder, Les Boys, is now in third place behind Seduction and current champ Seraphin, based on net earnings. Seduction is still showing on 33 Quebec screens.

‘This film has legs; it’s incredible,’ says Beaudry. ‘It’s only minus 21% in its thirteenth week. It’s really strong.’

Following the Oct. 3 weekend, Gaz Bar Blues, he says, is nearing $550,000 and still showing on 23 screens, while Les Invasions barbares, in what appears to be its final weeks of release in Quebec, has generated more than $5 million cumulative. Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm distributes both films.

Another film to open on Oct. 3 was the Thom Fitzgerald drama The Event, distributed by THINKFilm. It took in roughly $18,500 on 10 screens. Another THINK release, The Gospel of John, will hit Canadian cinemas on Oct. 24. It garnered more than US$239,000 on 15 screens in its first 10 days of release in the U.S.

-www.alexfilms.com