Danes go wild for Paprika Steen’s Fathers & Mothers

The comedy released by Nordisk Film went straight to number one last weekend, ahead of Warner Bros’ Black Adam and Sony Pictures’s Where the Crawdads Sing. With 61,104 tickets sold (excluding previews), Steen’s film posted the best first weekend for a local title since Checkered Ninja 2 in August 2021.

Frederik Honoré, director of Nordisk Film Distribution Denmark said the film’s opening figures exceeded by far the 40,000 anticipated ticket sales. “It's a great start for a Danish film, and we are very proud. We can see from the preliminary tests that the audience is having a lot of fun and giving the film a strong word-of-mouth, which bodes really well for the film's extended run in the coming weeks,” he said.

Fathers & Mothers toplines some of Denmark’s biggest actors including Katrine Greis-Rosenthal, Jacob Lohmann, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Mikael Birkkjær, Rasmus Bjerg, Amanda Collin, Maria Rossing, Carsten Bjørnlund, Lisa Loven Kongsli and Lars Brygmann.

The story penned by Jakob Weiss, Steen’s collaborator on That Time of year, is a humorous portrait of the challenges of being parents to school kids.

“I am touched that so many people have seen the film this weekend,” commented Steen. “I have received many, many messages from people about what the film means to them and how much they can recognise themselves and others in the film's gallery of characters. It matters that the film makes an impact. After all, it's a film that hits straight into something that most people have or will try. Being a parent of a school child. Being able to both laugh and cry at how crazy we are. And then also to forgive ourselves. I am happy and grateful that the film is being seen.”

Fathers & Mothers was produced by Tomas Radoor for Nordisk Film Production Denmark, with support from the Danish Film Institute, Nordisk Film & TV Fond and TV2 Denmark.

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