'Goon' squad tops Canada B.O.

'Goon' Canuck hockey pic "Goon" carried out an uncommon task in the local box office within the February. 24-26 frame, besting a number of Hollywood debuts. The ensemble comedy, co-composed by thesp Jay Baruchel and Evan Goldberg ("Pineapple Express"), capped the charts by having an believed $1.two million from 251 screens by February. 26.The homegrown pic's performance was assisted with a strategy from distrib Alliance Films that released "Goon" concurrently in its original British-language version along with a named French translation for that Quebec market. The film obtained almost double the amount average share of the market in Quebec, the nation's second-biggest province. "It is extremely satisfying to create a film work as well both in languages, since it rarely happens," states Mark Slone, senior v . p . of market at distributor Alliance.Alliance crafted dual publicity campaigns for "Goon," one which featured Hollywood stars Seann William Scott and Liev Schreiber, which folded in the majority of the country, while another focused to Quebec tastes and centered on Francophone star Marc-Andre Grondin ("C.R.A.Z.Y."). "Goon's" aud was mostly within the 18 to 34 demo, with women composed of nearly another of ticketbuyers, the distrib states.The film also received media attention around the eve of their debut when some outside ads were drawn in Toronto over complaints they demonstrated Baruchel making an obscene gesture.Magnet Delivering, the genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, plans a restricted discharge of "Goon" within the U.S. this spring. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com