*Boys on par with Titanic

The Louis Saia film Les Boys (CFP Distribution) topped the $3.1-million mark at the box office following the Jan. 2-4 weekend. The amateur hockey league comedy romp is looking to overtake Robert Menard’s Cruising Bar, which set an all-time box-office record for a Quebec movie in 1990 with earnings of $3.2 million.

The $3.4-million production set an opening weekend Quebec b.o. record for a Canadian film, pulling in $540,000 Dec. 12-14. By Dec. 19, cfp had upped the prints in distribution to 60 from 52.

According to exhibition/distribution consultant Alex Film, the 65 French-track prints of Les Boys has performed at the same level as the French-track version of studio blockbuster Titanic. Les Boys was released on 50-plus screens on Dec. 12.

Alex Film president Carole Boudreault projects the total gross (for Les Boys) could hit $4 million.

Another Quebec-produced holiday release, Matusalem 2 (Motion International), has not fared as well, earning only $206,000 after 17 days in release. Initial expectations for the Roger Cantin family fantasy were high, based on the $1.2-million box office for the original Matusalem. LRB

*Garden’s harvest

The Jan. 2-4 weekend box office for Thom Fitzgerald’s The Hanging Garden, distributed by Cineplex Odeon on five screens across Canada, rang in at $17,298.

Accumulated box office figures as of Jan. 4 were $526,372 and the film is now entering its ninth week in release. It will screen at the Sundance Film Festival Jan. 15-25.