After three years of steady growth, and a record market share of 13.3% in 2018, Icelandic films in 2019 had to settle with a 4.8% share of B.O. income, the lowest since 2015 according to the trade body FRÍSK, although the same number of Icelandic films - including documentaries - were released in cinemas in 2019 (16) compared to 2018.

Almost 54,000 Icelanders bought a ticket to watch a local film in 2019 compared to 164,000 the previous year, where the domestic champion Let Me Fall single-handedly posted 52,901 admissions and more than ISK 80m in earnings.

One local film made it in the top 20 in 2019 - Silja Hauksdóttir’s mother/daughter drama Agnes Joy which grossed more than ISK19.2m from 12,215 tickets sold - against four in 2018: Let Me Fall, the family films The Falcons (35.465 admissions), Ploey-You Never Fly Alone (24,185) and black comedy Woman at War (19,908).

In 2019, two other Icelandic films sold more than 10,000 tickets: Hlynur Pálmason’s A White, White Day (11,434) and Grímur Hákonarson’s The County (10,311).

The most successful local documentary was Seeing the Unseen by Kristján Kristjánsson and Bjarney Lúðvíksdóttir about autism through the portrait of 17 Icelandic women.

Among Nordic releases-the most successful films were the Danish titles The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear (8,511 admissions), The Purity of Vengeance (1,905), the Swedish film Britt-Marie Was Here (1,367) and Denmark’s Queen of Hearts (815).

Meanwhile US films generated a record 91% share of revenues (84% in 2018). Avengers-Endgame was the highest grossing film of the year with ISK 92m from 66,000 tickets.

Overall cinema attendance slowed down from more than 4 visits per head in 2019 to 3.5 in 2019, and B.O. earnings decreased by 12% year on year to ISK 1,580,370,576 (€11.48m) from 1,267,298 admissions.

Probed on the local films’ downslide in 2019, Laufey Guðjónsdóttir, head of the Icelandic Film Centre, said that although 16 local films were released in 2019, in reality only five had a larger audience potential, as four features (out of 12) were very low budget, and seven were documentaries.

Guðjónsdóttir also underscored the uniqueness of the very small Icelandic market [364,260 inhabitants] that “absorbs a large number of US films almost like any bigger country”, and the higher competition from streaming services, putting pressure on cinema-going.

The Icelandic Film Centre's CEO also lamented the lack of local family and children’s films, although one feature project Twelve Hours to Destruction (Abbababb!) by Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir [Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize nominated for Happily Never After] targeting the young age group, is set to start filming later this year.

Anticipated upcoming domestic releases include Lamb by Valdimar Jóhannsson starring Noomi Rapace, and Alma by Kristín Jóhannesdóttir, while Ragnar Bragason’s dark comedy The Garden released early January is nearing 7,000 admissions.


To see Icelands's 2019 - January to December Admissions Charts: CLICK HERE.