Arn - The Knight Templar is this Christmas's big event movie in Sweden, and to some extent, in Norway. The film with the difficult label to wear - ‘the most expensive project ever made in Scandinavia' (SEK210m budget) is being released by Svensk Filmindustri on 205 screens in Sweden on Christmas Day (including 37 digital prints) and almost 70 screens in Norway on December 26.
"No other Swedish film has had such a massive print run", says Eva Svendenius, Head of Theatrical Distribution in Sweden. In comparison, the last film of Lord of the Rings (released by SF) had ‘only' a 160 print run.
The red carpet for the film's world premiere was rolled out last Monday in the Swedish city of Skara where Arn Magnusson the knight templar created by best-selling novelist Jan Guillou was born. 200 VIPs including the Swedish Culture Minister Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth took part in the medieval celebration of Arn, alongside Danish filmmaker Peter Flinth, lead actors Joakim Nätterqvist, Sofia Helin and Stellan Skarsgård.
The action film with a romantic love story and lavish sceneries is aimed at a primary audience (15-49 years) and secondary audience (readers of the books, from 11 to 70 years old according to Svendenius) will bring at least 500,000 Swedes into the cinemas.
Arn - The Knight Templar - the first of two features to be followed by a six parts TV series on TV4 - was heavily advertised on TV4 (partner in the project) as well as on outdoor sites, and daily press.
The film was produced by Svensk Filmindustri in collaboration with UK's Sheba Productions, Germany's Telepool GmbH, Film i Väst, TV4, DR, YLE, TV2 Norway, SF Norge, Juonifilmi Oy, Tju Bang AS, DR, Dagsljus Film Equipment AB, Europa Sound Production, Arion Communication Ltd, Molinare Ltd with support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the Swedish and Danish Film Institutes.
Click here to see the trailer.