Baldvin Z’s drama was the second most successful film on Icelandic screens in 2018 and the biggest local hit since Black’s Game in 2012. With 53,000 admissions, the drama about drug abuse among youngsters in Reykjavik boosted local films’ tally that ended up at 164,000 in 2018 for a 13.3% market share in box office revenues, the best results in four years according to FRISK.

Other local films that scored at home include the kids football movie The Falcons, timely scheduled to coincide with the world cup and Iceland’s football fever. The film sold 35,465 tickets, making it the ninth 9th film of the year, outperforming Hollywood titles such as Mission Impossible Fallout or Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The animated film Ploey, You Never Fly Alone, was watched by more than 24,000 people, making it the 15th best-selling film of 2018 in terms of B.O. revenues, just above the Nordic Council Film Prize winning film Woman at War.

Total admissions climbed by 5.4% year on year to 1,445,445 and box office revenues by 6.4% to ISK1,688,453,577 (€12.58m) in 2018. The biggest hit of 2018 was Mamma Mia-Here We Go Again with 79,861 admissions. The share of US films remained stable at 84.3%.

The most popular Icelandic documentary with 491 admissions (Bíó Paradís) was Little Moscow (Litla Moskva) by Grímur Hákonarson, selected at Göteborg’s Nordic Documentary competition programme. In the film produced by Netop Films, the director investigates why an isolated Icelandic fishing village was ruled by communists for half a century.

The five most successful Nordic films in terms of admissions were the following:

  • The Unknown Soldier (FI), 3,060 admissions 
  • U-July 22 (NO), 1,256 admissions 
  • The Guilty (DK), 1,072 admissions 
  • The Border (SE), 1,042 admissions 
  • Doctor Proctor Bubble in the Bathtub (NO), 834 admissions

All five films were released by Bíó Paradís.

FOR ICELAND 2018 ANNUAL ADMISSIONS CHARTS: CLICK HERE.