Canadian comedy Mambo Italiano has moved into second place among all-time Canadian box office performers, having earned $3.8m (C$5.1m) on release through Equinoxe Films.

Its gross surpasses The Art Of War, which earned C$4.5m in 2000 but remains well short of top-placed Porkies, a 1981 release which earned C$11m.

Produced by Montreal-based Cinemaginaire, the gay-themed farce is also enjoying good business in the US, where it has earned $1m on 50 screens through Samuel Goldwyn, and in Australia, where it earned $700,000 (A$1m) in its first 10 days on 113 screens through Icon.

Mambo represents something of a milestone in Canadian cinema on a cultural level, given that it was produced by a company that has specialized in French-language production, and was shot in French and English. To date, the film has earned more money in Quebec ($3m), where it is screening in both French- and English-language versions, than in the rest of Canada (C$2.1m).

The film, which has sold to 37 territories in all, will be released in Latin America at Christmas, and in several European countries in the first quarter of 2004.