Montreal: Savage Messiah (Moise), Mario Azzopardi’s powerful psychological portrait of diabolical cult leader Roch Theriault, earned $666,850 in its first 10 days of release (Quebec only), with coproducer Muse Entertainment and Christal Films Distribution anticipating the film will hit the coveted $1-million mark at the box office. The film opened number one in Quebec over the April 26-28 weekend, pulling in more than $322,000 on 54 screens.

Savage Messiah, licensed as a Showcase Original TV movie, ranked second to Spider-Man over the May 3-5 weekend. Christal subsequently increased the number of dubbed French prints to 51 from 46, and decreased the number of English prints from 11 to seven.

The TVA Films comedy Green Red’s Duct Tape Forever opened on 86 screens nationally April 12. It earned $220,046 in its first week, but had only garnered $375,603 following the May 3-5 weekend. Duct Tape Forever is currently on six Canadian screens.

Christal Films reports Richard Ciupka’s family feature La Mysterieuse Mlle C. has taken in $970,794 after seven weeks in Quebec theatres. The film ranked sixth over the May 3-5 weekend and is still playing on 44 screens. ‘Word of mouth is exceptional and it will reach $1 million this weekend [May 10-12],’ says Christal communications director Michele Laroche.

Christal is opening the smash French box-office hit Asterix & Obelix on more than 100 Quebec screens May 31, an all-time record number of prints for a European film.

Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm is opening Michael Dowse’s riotous comedy FUBAR (www.fubar-the movie.com) on May 24.

La Fete Distributions is releasing the musical comedy Regina, the latest in the Tales for All family film series. Regina is a Rock Demers/Chantal Lafleur coproduction with Iceland and will be released across Quebec on June 7. Canadian dates will follow. La Fete says a major promotional campaign (www.izzigo.com/regina) is planned, with prizes including summer camp vacations and trips to Iceland.