To my friends South of the border a million dollar take at the box office is laughable. Up here in Canada though it’s a huge success, which is exactly what Splice (the must-see sci-fi thriller of the Summer) is now that it has crossed that milestone on only 170 screens across the country since opening last Friday.
Splice stars Adrien Brody and Sarah Polly as geneticists who decide to break the rules and splice the DNA of a human with an animal creating a hybrid creature they call Dren. Like writer-director Vincenzo Natali’s 1997 film Cube, Splice offers up a dark, twisted tale that is probably best viewed without reading the hype surrounding it.
Critics raved about the film last week with Peter Howell giving it four out of four stars in the Toronto Star. It also earned a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough for moviegoers in the U.S. to flock to it the way Canadians have and the film made just over $7 million on 2,450 screens.
In a release sent out by E1 Entertainment, the Canadian distributor of the film, co-president Bryan Gliserman says, “We are very pleased with the commercial and critical response to date and as the buzz surrounding Splice continues, we’re looking forward to continued success in the coming weeks.”
Watch the trailer for Splice below and read my interview with Vincenzo Natali here.
