The horror chills of Infinity Pool heated up the box office in its opening weekend.

The sci-fi horror from Toronto-based writer-director Brandon Cronenberg is expected to gross $220,000 in Canada after launching in 131 theatres across the country on Friday, according to Comscore figures cited in a news release from Elevation Pictures, which is one of the film’s producers and its Canadian distributor.

Elevation says that’s the largest opening for an English Canadian film release since 2021’s Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City by Johannes Roberts.

Infinity Pool was released by Neon south of the border, where it took in US$2.72 million (about C$3.64 million) from Jan. 27 to 29, according to weekend domestic box office estimates from Comscore. It opened in 1,835 locations in the U.S., and netted a per-theatre average of US$1,485 (about C$1,982).

The $12 million Canada/Hungary/Croatia copro recently made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. It’s produced by Karen Harnisch and Andrew Cividino of Toronto’s Film Forge, Noah Segal and Christina Piovesan of Toronto’s Elevation Pictures, Anita Juka of Croatia-based 4 Film, and Daniel Kresmery and Jonathan Halperyn of Budapest-based Hero Squared.

Alexander Skarsgård, Mia Goth, and Cleopatra Coleman are among the stars in the story of a couple caught up in hidden horrors at an all-inclusive vacation resort.

Infinity Pool is co-financed by Telefilm Canada, U.S.-based Neon and Topic Studios, and the Croatian Film Fund.

“Not only are audiences choosing to see an innovative Canadian film, but they are also seeing it in theatres,” said Francesca Accinelli, interim executive director and CEO at Telefilm, in a statement. “It’s a great way to start 2023 and an encouraging sign that audiences are returning more frequently to their local cinemas.”

Segal, co-president of Elevation Pictures, said they knew the film “would find a solid audience in Canada,” and “the performance this weekend was a clear indication that Canadian audiences are excited to engage in all types of films.”

“Telefilm understood the value of Infinity Pool and we are thrilled to have more great homegrown titles being released later this year,” he added.

Those upcoming 2023 Elevation titles include Brother, written and directed by Clement Virgo; BlackBerry, written and directed by Matt Johnson; and Bones of Crows, written and directed by Marie Clements.

Photo of Alexander Skarsgård and Mia Goth in Infinity Pool, courtesy of Neon