Boosted by Dome Karukoski's Lapland Odyssey that took on board another 31,634 cinemagoers last weekend and kept its first place at the local box office in its fourth weekend, Finnish films have now a healthy market share of around 25%.

"We're heading towards a record year," said Reetta Hautamäki, Information Coordinator, at the Finnish Film Foundation. "Last time we passed 1.8 million domestic admissions was in 1999. Overall admissions have increased about 12 percent from last year but domestic films have increased their admissions by over 97 percent!"

Three local films were in the top Ten last weekend according to figures from Filmikamari the Finnish Chamber of Films. Lapland Odyssey reached 226,197 admissions from 72 screens for Sandrew Metronome Distribution. Olli Saarela's crime thriller Priest of Evil kept its third place in its second weekend with 28,058 admissions from 72 screens for Nordisk Film. Arto Halonen's Princess was number six at the Top ten after nine weeks on screens reaching a total 247,060 admissions for Sandrew Metronome.

Another two potential hits are likely to push year end admissions to new heights: Jalmari Helander's highly anticipated genre film Rare Exports, scheduled for a December 3 release via FS Film, and the urban tale The Night is Still Young (Veijarit) by Lauri Nurkse, set to open on Christmas day through Nordisk Film. 

Nordisk Film & TV Fond supported four of the five films: Lapland Odyssey, Priest of Evil, Rare Exports and The Night is Still Young.