It’s a sure bet that the latest installment of the Twilight franchise will be the most profitable yet, but will it also become the top earner at this year’s Canuck summer box office?

E1 Entertainment is pulling out all the stops to make that reality as it opened Eclipse in a colossal 402 locations across Canada at 12:01 Wednesday — the most locations of any film in Canadian history, according to the distributor. In the U.S., Summit Entertainment is sending the Vancouver-shot vampire romance to a reported 4,000 theatres.

Fan frenzy, decent reviews and a well-timed release on the day that school wraps for the summer will also help at the box office, says Robert Wales, VP of film programming at Empire Theatres, Canada’s second-largest theatre chain.

‘The summer playing time is always considered to be more desirable because you turn into a seven day business with the kids off school,’ he tells Playback Daily. ‘[The studios] saw an opportunity to really maximize the availability of the audience for the film.’

The previous two films, Twilight and New Moon, both bowed in the fall. Twilight rang in $192 million in 2008, while Moon’s box office jumped to $296 million in North America last year.

‘New Moon had the advantage of the DVD release. This often happens with sequels where [the original] will prime the pump for the second film,’ notes Wales. He says the power of the franchise became evident through the box office for Moon — which played in 371 locations — and had the second largest opening weekend in Canadian history.

‘It’s incredible for a November weekend because usually records are set in the summer or at Christmastime when people are on vacation,’ he adds.

Eclipse continues the love triangle between Bella (Kristen Stewart), her vampire beau Edward (Robert Pattinson) and best friend/werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner), as a new threat emerges in Seattle.

Wales says Empire had sold out several midnight screenings by Tuesday and added second screenings of Eclipse to many of its locations.

Fellow exhibitor Cineplex offered a Twilight Triple Bill in select locations on the eve of the release, whereby it screened the original film, followed by Moon, and then Eclipse for $19.99. A spokesperson for Cineplex said the exhibitor also did ‘extremely well’ with advance tickets sales.