Opening week was not kind to filmmaker Uwe Boll, who saw his Vancouver-shot In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale fizzle at the North American box office with receipts of only US$4.3 million since its release on Jan. 11.

The US$60-million feature, Boll’s most expensive to date, played to a soft per-screen average of $3,813 on 81 screens in Canada for the frame ending Jan. 17 — well below expectations. The film is distributed here by Peace Arch Entertainment, while Freestyle Releasing handles the U.S. market.

The German-born director of Bloodrayne and Alone in the Dark had hoped for a $5-7 million opening weekend, and in an earlier interview with Playback Daily noted that it would be ‘very bad’ if Dungeon Siege fell short. The fantasy adventure stars Jason Statham (The Transporter) as a farmer-turned-fighter when his wife is kidnapped by an army of animal warriors. It is co-produced by Shawn Williamson of Vancouver’s Brightlight Pictures.

Dungeon Siege opened opposite the Ice Cube comedy First Sunday and the expansion of The Bucket List, which took the top spot on the charts for Warner Bros., followed by Fox Searchlight’s Juno and National Treasure: Book of Secrets from Disney.

Meanwhile, Seville Pictures’ Le dernier continent is slowly cruising toward the one-million dollar mark, as the adventure doc added another $152,000 for the week, bringing its box office total to $855,122 after four weeks in Quebec theatres. Continent will get an English-Canadian release in the spring.

Denys Arcand’s L’age des ténèbres is holding steady at number three on the domestic chart with a total box office take of $1.4 million after six weeks in theatres for distributor Alliance Vivafilm. The film has generated over $530,000 in France since opening in early October, according to Box Office Mojo.

Rounding out the Canadian chart is the large-format French doc Dinosaures 3D: Les géants de la Patagonie, with $636,000 after 28 weeks in theatres, and Odeon Films’ Eastern Promises, with a total box office take of $3.1 million.