Released August 19, just five days after all cinema restrictions were lifted in Denmark, Anders Matthesen’s sequel to his 2018 hit Checkered Ninja has hit an all-time record.

In four days, the animated feature has sold 246,684 admissions (including previews), beating the first film’s own record of 222,000 admissions with previews at Christmas 2018.

The first feature ended up with the best results in more than three decades for a Danish film, with 950,000 total admissions.

Checkered Ninja 2 also achieved the best ever single day admissions for a Danish film, with 68,000 tickets sold on Saturday.

Frederik Honoré, managing director at Nordisk Film Distribution Denmark said:
“We knew we had a great movie and that it would do really well. We could see this from the previews and the fantastic word-of-mouth. But that it could catch up with the first film and even beat it, was sensational, when you think that the first Checkered Ninja film opened during the Christmas holidays 2018. This means that Checkered Ninja 2 is already on its way to becoming this year's biggest Danish hit in cinemas, and only time will tell how far it can go."

Honoré added: “We should stop talking about cinema crisis and audience shifting behaviour, because here is a clear proof that the Danes absolutely love going to the cinema!”

The brain behind the Checkered Ninja franchise - Anders Matthesen - who wrote the screen adaptation from his own best-selling novel, and also co-directed with animation director Thorbjørn Christoffersen, and voiced some of the characters and songs, also expressed his gratitude-and relief. “After all, planning a premiere in the middle of a Covid-19 crisis with closed cinemas and lots of bans was quite a challenge!" he said. “But we had hoped it would be possible to get back to the cinemas after the summer break, and that the film would just help spread joy to people, under such difficult times for so many. It is also brilliant that cinemas can even make some of the money they lost during the closure,” he added.

In Checkered Ninja 2, teenager Alex and his ninja doll who talks trash, are on a frantic hunt for the villain Phillip Eppermint who has evaded a prison sentence in Thailand. Helping them is Alex’s mother Sirena, stepfather Jørn, step-brother Sune and Uncle Stewart.

The film was produced by Trine Heidegaard and Anders Mastrup for A. Film Production, Sudoku and Pop Up Production, in collaboration with Nordisk Film Distribution, YouSee, support from the Danish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond and the Estonian Film Institute.

Sales agent LevelK has pre-sold Checkered Ninja 2 to German-speaking territories and Poland (Splendid), France (Koba), Spain and Colombia (Cinemaran).

Last weekend, no less than four Danish films were in the Top Ten, besides the best-selling Checkered Ninja:

  • Bille August’s The Pact was number 2 with 137,103 total admissions after three weeks for SF Studios.
  • Lisa Jespersen’s feature debut Persona Non Grata was number 4 (just after The Suicide Squad), with 124,587 admissions for Nordisk Film after 5 weeks.
  • Martin Zandvliet’s The Marco Effect - still playing after 13 weeks - was number 7 for Nordisk Film, with over 177,000 admissions, according to FAFID.