Zac Efron put Alliance Films on top of the box office last week, where the time-bending comedy fronted by the High School Musical star opened to a box-office take of $3.7 million, outperforming new arrivals from Universal and Maple.

Universal — which on April 17 trotted out its BBC redux State of Play to upbeat reviews — missed both the top and number two spots at the box office, instead taking the bronze behind Paramount’s still-vigorous Monsters vs. Aliens. The Russell Crowe vehicle, reworked from the British miniseries, made $1.5 million, while Maple trailed at sixth place with Crank: High Voltage. The latest Jason Statham punch-up arrived in Canada, via the Toronto distributor and Lionsgate, to $1.1 million.

The week also saw the promising debut of Sugar from Mongrel Media. The baseball drama played on two screens through the Toronto boutique to a healthy per-screen average of some $4,300.

Alliance is also getting a high return on its Spanish-language thriller Sin Nombre, which after three weeks averaged just a few dollars short of $8,600.

Among Canadian-mades, Dédé, à travers les brumes led with $57,900 for TVA Films, followed by award circuit darling Ce qu’il faut pour vivre at $21,000 for Entertainment One.