In Denmark local films reached a record 56% last weekend as kids started their autumn holiday break. The local comedy The Reunion (Klassefesten) by Niels Nørløv about three men in their forties attending a high school reunion opened at number one for Nordisk, selling over 50,000 tickets from 87 screens in four days. Claus Bjerre's Father of Four - Back to Nature, the fifth installment of the family series was number two in its second weekend for Scanbox (110,875 total admissions). The Norwegian thriller Headhunters was number four after a month and total admissions passed 144,000 for Nordisk Film. The other Nordisk release Ronal the Barbarian, the 3D Danish animation film for 11+ audiences was number six (over 61,000 admissions).
After two months on general release, A Funny Man (Dirch) was still number nine last weekend. The comedy drama starring Nikolaj Lie Kaas is the biggest local hit of 2011 with over 452,000 tickets sold for Nordisk Film. In its fifth week, Anders Winding Refn's English language Drive just made it in the Top Ten with nearly 70,000 tickets sold for FC/SF.
More than 9.6 million Danes have gone to the cinema since the beginning of the year according to the Danish Film Institute. Danish titles have sold over 2.6 million tickets, for a 27% market share, compared to 22% in 2010.
Norway had the strongest admission growth in Europe during the first six months of 2011 and posted a record 58% market share in September. The third quarter alone saw total admissions rise by 9.7% thanks mostly to local films, and today, Norwegian films have a market share of nearly 22%.
Nordisk Film's Headhunters is the biggest local hit of 2011. Morten Tyldum's thriller is gradually reducing the gap separating it from the biggest grosser of the year - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 with 518,000 total admissions against 566,000 for the UK/US blockbuster. Last weekend, Headhunters kept a stable fifth place at the Top Ten after eight weeks. Another local thriller, Pål Sletaune's Babycall starring Noomi Rapace released by SF didn't move from its previous opening weekend's third position. Total admissions have climbed to nearly 50,000.
Scanbox's hugely popular Twigson kid's franchise -Twigson in Trouble was number one for the fourth weekend in a row. Total admissions have passed 256,000, making it the second most successful Norwegian film of 2011. Meanwhile, the local comedy King Curling starring Atle Antonsen is also finding its audience. The Euforia release was number six in its fourth weekend with over 140,000 tickets sold so far.
In Sweden, the comedy Svensson Svensson -The Movie based on the cult TV sitcom went straight to number one for its opening weekend, selling 35,183 tickets for Nordisk Film. In its seventh weekend, False Trail (Jägarna 2) showed no sign of fading and total admissions have reached a record 454,614 for SF, making it the second biggest Swedish hit of 2011. On a smaller scale, the other SF film A One-Way Trip to Antibes by Richard Hobert is also scoring with its niche audience. The film was number 10 last weekend (35,479 total admissions).
So far, Swedish films account for nearly 21% of the local market. Total admissions until the end of September were 11.7 million, 1% up from 2010 and 1.8% up compared to the average registered over the last decade.
Iceland had no less than two local titles dominating the Top Ten charts last weekend.
Released with a unique print run of 24 copies, the 3D animation film Thor-Valhalla conquered the number one position last weekend, selling over 8,000 tickets for Sena, the fifth best result ever for an animation film in Iceland during its opening weekend. The action thriller City State (Borgríki) by Olaf de Fleur opened to a comfortable second place with 3,220 admissions for Myndform from 6 screens. In its third weekend, Iceland's Oscar contender Volcano was number eight, with total admissions reaching 5,416 for Sena.
Finland had two titles in the Top Ten last weekend. Joona Tena's psychological thriller Body of Water was number three in its second weekend, selling over 21,000 tickets from 60 screens for Nordisk Film and Aki Kaursmäki's heart-warming Le Havre kept an excellent fifth place in its sixth week on national screens. So far, total admissions have passed 77,000 for Future Film Distribution. By the end of September, local films had a market share of around 17% in Finland, with nearly 900 000 tickets sold.
Sources: Filmikamari, Filmägarnas kontrollbyrå/Swedish Film Institute, Film&Kino/Filmweb, FAFID/Danish Film Institute, SMAIS.