Seville’s teen hit Twilight looks set to stay at number one in Canada for a third week, though it faces fresh competition in the form of Maple Pictures’ Punisher: War Zone.

Twilight, which debuted two weeks ago on some 500 screens, remains this week on 431. Meanwhile, the latest Punisher feature — based on the Marvel comic book series — bows here on 152 screens Friday. It will play on 2,400 screens through Lionsgate in the U.S., according to Box Office Mojo.

Twilight took a 62% dip at the U.S. box office in its second week but stayed strong in Canada, adding over $3 million in its second weekend and hanging on to the number one spot. Its box office here stands at $10 million as of Dec. 1. The vampire romance earned over US$70 million in its first outing south of the border, though Americans flocked to see the holiday comedy Four Christmases last week, bumping Twilight from first to second place.

Meanwhile, Mongrel Media is cautiously rolling out Newfoundland director Justin Simms’ Down to the Dirt, opening in Toronto, with plans to expand to Vancouver in January. The gritty drama about a rebel and poet, starring Hugh Dillon and Sherry White, garnered the best Atlantic feature award earlier this year at the Atlantic Film Festival.

The acclaimed documentary feature Saving Luna — from veteran docmakers Michael Parfit and Suzanne Chisholm — gets a big-screen release via KinoSmith Films in Vancouver on Friday, followed by Winnipeg on Dec. 19.

Among other new U.S. releases for the frame is the crime thriller Nobel Son, handled here by Alliance Films, opening in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, while Universal Pictures bows the drama Frost/Nixon — about the post-Watergate interviews between talk-show host David Frost and the former U.S. president.

Meanwhile, Vivendi Entertainment will release Frost/Nixon: The Original Interviews in its entirety on DVD on Tuesday. The historical 1977 interview drew the largest audience for a news interview in TV history and is the basis for Ron Howard’s feature film.