It’s full steam ahead for David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises, which managed a whopping US$37,000 per-screen average after a limited weekend release on 15 North American screens. That includes $21,000 per screen on seven Canadian screens. The director’s previous hit, A History of Violence, opened to a per-screen of about $37,000 in Canada, and went on to make around $31 million in North American theaters.

The thriller, starring Viggo Mortensen as a driver for the Russian mob in London, and Naomi Watts as a midwife who inadvertently gets mixed up in his world, spreads to about 200 screens across the country Friday, according to Odeon Films SVP Mark Slone.

‘We’re still finalizing the number,’ he tells Playback Daily, adding that the opening weekend matched expectations. ‘I knew that the exclusives on this movie would be very strong… we continue to be hopeful for the wide release.’

Promises, produced by Brit Paul Webster and Robert Lantos, is benefiting from strong post-Toronto International Film Festival buzz and a vigorous marketing campaign, centered heavily on TV, radio and online advertising. The 80/20 U.K./Canada copro garnered the People’s Choice award at TIFF.

Slone says Odeon won’t heighten the already aggressive campaign. Cronenberg is currently making the interview rounds in the U.S., where the film is distributed by Focus Features.

‘The guy’s been working like a trooper,’ Slone says.

Promises will have its European premiere Thursday at the San Sebastian International Film Festival in Spain.