Last weekenk as governments were pumping billions into national banks, Nordic audiences looked for escapism, spending their kronas and euros on local horror (Norway), animation films (Denmark and Finland), comedies (Sweden) and thrillers (Iceland), released by the big three Nordisk Film, SF and Scanbox.
Nordisk Film scored in Norway with the horror film Cold Prey 2 which sold 101,564 tickets from 94 screens, making it the best opening ever for a Norwegian film. "This goes beyond anything I could have dreamt of," said producer Martin Sundland from Fantefilm. The last record was held by Mother's Elling (70,952 in 2003). The prequel Cold Prey opened with 55,045 admissions in 2006. Cold Prey 2 was the feature debut of Swedish filmmaker Mats Stenberg.
Three other Nordic titles were in Norway's Top Ten last weekend: the animation film Mammo Moo & Crow which opened for a fourth position with almost 9,000 admissions for SF, Erik Poppe's drama Troubled Water (De usynlige) number five with a total of 55,077 admissions to date for Scanbox, and The Last Joint Venture, number ten in its seventh weekend with over 137,000 admissions for Nordisk.
In Denmark, local films had a record 67% market share with 113,000 tickets sold last week according to the Danish Film Institute and last weekend alone, five Danish films were in the Top Ten, including three family films. The animation film Sunshine Barry & The Disco Worms opened for a third place and 23,433 admissions from 84 screens for Nordisk, behind Journey to Saturn, 31,994 admissions from 77 screens for Nordisk (cume 265,515). Claus Bjerre's fourth franchise film Father of Four-Back Home was number one for Scanbox with 114,337 admissions from 127 screens.
Anja & Viktor, in Sickness and in Health, the fifth installment in the romantic comedy series passed the 211,000 admissions from 130 screens in its fifth weekend for Nordisk, Meanwhile the comedy Blå Mænd (Take the Trash) under Scanbox's banner, the story of a businessman who looses everything is hitting the right cords, still selling strongly after nine weeks (over 408,000 admissions from 42 screens).
In Sweden, as many as five local films distributed by SF were in the Top Ten, all supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond, with the exception of the number one title Rallybrudar by Lena Koppel (41,404 admissions in its opening weekend).
With over 200,000 admissions, Patrik Age 1.5 (third at the Top Ten) is now the second most popular Swedish film of 2008, after Arn-The Kingdom at Road's End (over 500,000 admissions for a sixth place). The animation film Mamma Moo & Crow was number five (78,748 admissions) and Jan Toell's Everlasting Moments, released by Sandrew Metronome, was number ten (34,027 admissions).
In Finland, three Finnish films released by Nordisk Film took the top three positions. The little reindeer Niko and the Way to the Stars (Niko-lentäjän poika) went straight to the top in its opening weekend, with 18,441 admissions from 66 screens for Nordisk Film, twice the figure of The Novelist (Päätalo), second at the Top ten in its third weekend (56,518 admissions in total). The comedy The Subtenant sold another 7,931 tickets over the weekend for a total admission of 144,674. The fourth local title at the Top ten was the family film Stormheart (90,077 admissions for Walt Disney Studios).
In Iceland, Oskar Jonasson's Reykjavik Rotterdam stayed at the top of the chart for the second weekend in a row, with 13,182 admissions from six screens for Sena. Olaf de Fleur's The Amazing truth About Queen Raquela opened for a 14th place and 377 viewers from five screens for Samfilm.