Maple trots out Eye

Fresh off a profitable opening week for Rambo, Maple Pictures is rolling out yet another big U.S. release Friday, in the form of the Lionsgate horror The Eye, starring Jessica Alba.

Eye, a redo of a Japanese horror about a woman who can see into the supernatural world, bows on 174 screens throughout Canada, while it debuts in 2,200 theaters in the U.S.

Rambo, which opened with $2 million last weekend, will continue to play on nearly 260 screens. Its latest domestic box-office tally stands at just over $3 million.

The Toronto distributor will also open the dark comedy Love and Other Dilemmas — the debut feature from Vancouver director Larry Di Stefano — exclusively on one screen each in Toronto and Vancouver. Produced by Clarity Films, Love stars John Cassini (Intelligence) and Corner Gas regulars Gabrielle Miller and Fred Ewanuick in a story about a pregnant bride who gets kidnapped on her wedding day. The film was developed through the National Screen Institute’s Features First program.

Also opening Friday is the comedy Over Her Dead Body, starring Eva Longoria, handled here by TVA Films. A screen count was not immediately available. In the U.S., the film will bow on nearly 2,000 screens via indie distributor Gold Circle Films.

Meanwhile, John Sayles’ music drama Honeydripper, featuring Danny Glover, will play on two screens in Toronto through Seville Pictures, while Maximum Films will bow the documentary Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten at Toronto’s Royal theater.

Eye will be up against other new U.S. releases including the Paramount comedy Strange Wilderness and Disney’s counter-programmed 3D presentation of Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert.