Vancouver: The Vancouver film Better than Chocolate has quietly become a minor art-house hit in the u.s. and Canada and has the Canadian distributor talking about a $9-million worldwide theatrical gross.

Motion International and Trimark Pictures share the North American market for the lesbian romantic comedy, produced by Sharon McGowan, written by Peggy Thompson and directed by Anne Wheeler. Motion has been involved since the first draft of the script of Better than Chocolate, while Trimark bought the film after it debuted at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

As of Sept. 28, the film was playing on 100 screens in the u.s. and Canada after a platform rollout that began Aug. 6. Box office at the end of September was $240,000 in Canada and us$1.7 million ($2.5 million) in the States.

‘The u.s. gross is very healthy,’ says Dan Lyon, executive vp of distribution and marketing at Motion, ‘and the Canadian percentage is higher than what we would normally expect. It is rare for a Canadian movie to perform so well in the u.s. market a

nd we are excited by the outstanding audience reaction.’

Lyon’s broad formula of gauging the film’s gross suggests that if Canada grosses $300,000 for the film, then the u.s. will contribute $3 million and the rest of the world $6 million, for a total theatrical gross topping $9 million. The film might earn an additional $2 million as a rental at u.s. and Canadian video stores beginning next spring, he adds.

In Canada, Better than Chocolate is being marketed mainly in the gay and lesbian press and debuted at home at the Inside Out Film Festival, a gay and lesbian film event in Toronto, prior to its commercial release.

The film is playing in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, but will eventually expand to smaller Canadian markets.

Lyon says Motion is not promoting the film as a ‘lesbian romantic comedy’ but simply a ‘romantic comedy,’ in part to attract a wider or heterosexual audience.

‘We’d prefer if Canadians discovered the story on their own,’ says Lyon. ‘This is a film that doesn’t pull any punches. There are graphic sexual situations and nudity, but it’s also a very sweet film.’

Trimark, meanwhile, is taking a more narrow view of the marketability of Better than Chocolate – the success of which is being driven by the lesbian audience.

Dennis O’Connor, senior vp of theatrical marketing, says Better than Chocolate is on track to match the box office of other successful lesbian-themed films such as Two Girls in Love, High Art and Go Fish. These films, he reports, topped out at between us$1.7 million ($2.5 million) to us$2.4 million ($3.5 million) in the u.s.

‘This is a real audience film,’ says O’Connor, referring to the high level of entertainment value in the movie. ‘We’ve had really long runs in cities like New York, Boston and Chicago, and we’re still open in new cities like Minneapolis, where we had a $15,000 opening weekend. The longer it stays in theatres, the greater the chance that it will cross over to a more straight audience.’

The profile of the film has been buoyed by high-profile controversies at newspapers such as San Diego’s Union Tribune, which ran editorial reviews of the film that included the word ‘lesbian’ but pulled quotes containing the word ‘lesbian’ that appeared in the cinema advertisements.

For u.s. audiences, the controversy lent substance to some of the film’s subthemes that deal with bookstore censorship, says O’Connor.

Wendy Crewson (Air Force One), Karyn Dwyer (Superstar), Christina Cox (F/X, the Series) and Peter Outerbridge (Kissed) star in the film.