Released by SF Studios on November 6, the day cinemas in the Norwegian capital closed for the second time due to Covid-19, the family film is holding on to its market and its producer Qvisten Animation and SF Studios team are pressing on with its marketing campaign outside Oslo. 

“With Oslo and its surroundings cities closed, we lost 30% of our market,” acknowledges producer Heidi Sandberg. “However, we knew the film could be extra appealing to families outside the big cities, so we kept our touring plans [with the main characters Klara the young calf and Mosk the ox) and stuck to the full marketing,” she says. 

The producer goes on: “Before the pandemic, we had anticipated to get 180,000 admissions. At the time of premiere our goal was 35,000; now our new goal is 100,000. If we manage that, in these crazy times, we are very satisfied.”, said Sandberg. 

SF Studios’ Marketing and PR manager Katrine Aamodt adds:” Reaching 100,000 during the pandemic is a great result. It’s only 23% behind the first film [Cattle Hill], even though we had higher estimates for this film,” she says. 

Aamodt bets on exhibitors’ support and the lack of competition from US majors to extend the film’s life on the silver screens. “We won’t release the film earlier on TVOD; instead we are determined to support cinemas that are open now. They are desperate for content and since this film is doing well they will keep it. We are also getting very good capacity because of lack of content,” said Aamodt. 

Last weekend, the film was playing in 100 Norwegian locations and added 9,458 admissions to its tally. The film directed by Will Ashurst was third after the other local films Dragon Girl and Another Happy Christmas. 

Released in Sweden December 4, the film was also hit hard by cinema closures just before its release, and screen capacity capped at 8 people. “As this is a pure weekend movie, our results are much lower than we had hoped for ,” laments Mattias Lundin, head of Marketing at SF Studios Sweden. “As it seems the restrictions will continue to be in place over the holidays, we are looking at a lifetime of approximately 2,000 admissions,” he says. 

Lundin is grateful for the NOK 260,000 distribution and NOK 250,000 dubbing support received from Nordisk film & TV Fond. “The distribution and dubbing supports have been very beneficial in times like these, both for us and the production company and co-producers. Any support is welcome during these times of immense uncertainty and quick changes in regulations and restrictions. We chose to release the title this year amid uncertainty since we wanted to preserve a wide Nordic home entertainment release for 2021, which we truly believe the film deserves. “

The film is sold internationally by New Europe Film Sales.