The Danish number one, The Keeper of Lost Causes, is even on track to become one of the best-selling national films of the last decade. The three above mentioned titles were supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
Number one in Denmark for the third consecutive weekend, Mikkel Nørgaard’s thriller has passed 500,000 admissions, and with a strong screen average of 759, the Zentropa film released by Nordisk Film is set to take the top of the Danish charts this year. Number two in its second weekend, the animation film The Olsen Gang in Deep Trouble is also off to a good run. Nordisk Film upped the screen run from 115 to 120 and total admissions so far are 136,575. Another children’s film, the festival favourite Antboy is holding on strongly to its third position after three weeks. FC/SF also added screens (from 75 to 91) pushing total admissions to 124,631. Spies & Gilstrup (Sex, Drugs & Taxation) is steadily adding tickets in its eighth week on screens and dropped only by 3% from the previous weekend, staying at number 11. Total admissions are 322,113 for the Nordisk Film release.
Danish films as a whole are making history these days: no less than four local titles are dominating the Danish Top Ten 2013: The Hunt, The Keeper of Lost Causes, My African Adventure, and All for 2. The market share for local films (already over 30%) should continue to climb with this Saturday’s Den Store Biografdag (tickets at half price), the upcoming releases of the family film Tarok, Catch a Dream, Nils Malmros’ Sorry & Joy and Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac.
In Finland, Dome Karukoski’s Heart of a Lion released by Scanbox took the lead last weekend, selling 42,048 tickets from 117 screens. These results - usually reserved for comedies or family films in Finland - were achieved thanks to excellent reviews, word and mouth and strong social media activity. “I’m particularly happy about the result, given the rating of 16,” said the director. The 16 rating created a lot of debate in Finland as many felt the story about racism and bullying should be made available to teenagers as well.
Another strong performer is JP Siili’s documentary The Finnish Flash-a Teemu Selanne Story that has passed the historical record of 100,000 admissions. The Yellow Film & TV production distributed by SF Film has lost only 22% of its audience since the previous weekend and ranks number four after a full month on screens. The film is currently playing in 64 screens.
Taru Mäkelä’s period romantic film August Fools (Nordisk Film) came in at number nine last weekend, selling an addition 1,609 tickets to reach 20,131. As for Peter Franzén’s Above Dark Waters (Nordisk Film), the drama’s full ticket count after seven weeks is 80,305.
In Iceland the Danish thriller The Keeper of Lost Causes opened at number 6, selling 1,249 tickets from five locations. Playing in the same number of screens, the Icelandic drama Metalhead by Ragnar Bragason took the number seven rank in its second weekend. Total admissions are 3,679, while Iceland’s Oscar submission Of Horses and Men by Benedikt Erlingsson has now passed 10,000 admissions after eight weeks. The three Nordic titles are distributed by Sena.
In Norway the Norwegian action adventure Ragnarok available on 96 screens had to give up its top position to Disney’s new opener Planes, but stayed at number two in its third weekend and performed much better than UIP’s new release Captain Phillips available in a larger print run (123). With 182,116 total admissions so far for Nordisk Film, Ragnarok is likely to become one of the biggest Norwegian films of the year.
Backed by rave reviews (average 5 stars out of 6), Erik Poppe’s drama A Thousand Times Good Night opened at number 4 for Euforia Film and sold a total of 13,055 tickets from 59 screens.
In Sweden Svensk Filmindustri is enjoying the excellent run of three of its Swedish titles. The family film Lasse Maya’s Detective Agency 1-von Broms’ Secret went straight to number one, selling 43,163 tickets from 151 screens. “It’s fantastic that the film has reached its audience and it clearly shows that the audience wants to watch Swedish children’s films,” noted Svensk Filmindustri’s producer Johanna Bergenstråhle.
Per Fly’s Waltz for Monica is comfortably adding numbers and reached 400,000 admissions after six weeks on screens. Ranked number four last weekend the film is still playing in 99 cinemas and lost only 11% of its audience week on week. Lukas Moodysson’s We are the Best was number five in its second weekend and sold an extra 12,837 tickets from 107 screens to reach a total of 36,981.
Sources: FAFID, DFI, SMAIS, Filmikamari, Norkse Filmbyråers Forening, Filmägarnas Kontrollbyrå, SF.