‘Barbenheimer’ rule in Finland - local films take 18.5% market share

For the 6^th weekend in a row, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer are soaring at the Finnish box office, easily taking the lead with 567,962 and 311,693 admissions respectively, according to figures from the Finnish Film Foundation.

Thanks to the ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon, admissions in July were the highest since 1988 and Barbie was the biggest grossing film of the month of July since 1970.

Total admissions as of August 28 reached 4,789,487, including 885,778 for local films, representing a 18.5% market share, a drop compared to the 27.1% share for the first six months of the year.

So far two Finnish films -the kids franchise Ricky Rapper and the Wild Machine directed by Maria Sid and the actioner Sisu by Jalmari Helander, are offering some resistance to Hollywood fare and passed the 100,000-admission benchmark.

“The biggest hits are really big and there are proportionally more and more smaller movies,” noted the Finnish Film Foundation’s head of statistics and research Petri Peltonen.

For the first six months of 2023, the most popular Finnish films were sequels (Ricky Rapper 9 produced by Solar Films, Lapland Odyssey 4, produced by Yellow Film & TV), comedies and kids movies, but also the majority English-language action thriller Sisu and low budget horror The Knocking.

Four female directors secured a spot in the top 10 Finnish films: Maria Sid with Ricky Rapper and the Wild Machine, Reetta Huhtanen with the family film The Hullabaloos, Marja Pyykkö with the comedy Skimbagirls, and Pamela Tola with The Worst Idea Ever.

After a very quiet June-July with no new domestic releases, Riitta Raski’s documentary Echoes of the Universe – Kaija Saariaho about the celebrated Finnish composer opened at number 14 last Friday, inaugurating the fall line up of nearly 20 upcoming local premieres.

Friday September 1, three new Finnish films opened domestically: the documentaries In the Ballpark by Arto Halonen, Lynx Man by Juha Suonpää, and the film Lapua 1976 by Toni Kurkimäki.

“Like last year, there will be a lot of Finnish releases during the fall. Only a few of the films are sequels or films that are expected to be a hit for sure,” noted Peltonen.

Among the most anticipated new Finnish releases are the festival hits Fallen Leaves by Aki Kaurismäki (September 15), Je’vida by Katja Gauriloff (October 10), Four Little Adults by Selma Viltunen (December 27), as well as the dark comedy Death is a Problem for the Living by Teemu Nikki (September 22), the comedy Comeback by Petri Kotwika (October 6), family film Arnold Cautious and the Happiness Stone by Arto Halonen and auteur-driven Getaways & Dreams by Kaisa El Ramly (December 1).

According to Ilmari Arnkil, the Finnish Film Foundation’s head of exhibition and distribution, “Finnish movies should reach around 1.7 million - 1.9 million admissions this year. “2 million would be a very welcome and pleasant surprise,” he added.

To see Finland - Top 10 film charts - first six months 2023 (01-01 to 30.06, 2023) click here.