Nordic Admissions: Another Round, Tove, Nelly Rapp, Børning 3 on Top

In Denmark Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round is lifting spirits and striking box office gold. Despite screen capacity more than halved due to Covid-19, the Nordisk Film release has sold a record 681,418 tickets in only six weeks, making it the biggest hit of 2020 and second biggest domestic hit since the WW2 drama This Life (Hvidsten Gruppen) which locked in 765,000 admissions in 2012.

According to Nordisk Film’s head of local acquisitions Rasmus Krogh, Another Round has also surpassed Vinterberg’s own biggest hit at home - The Hunt which sold 672,000 tickets in 2013.

Besides Another Round, four other local films, all very different in genres, dominated the top 10 last weekend.

• The WW1 drama Erna at War by Henrik Ruben Genz entered the film chart at number 2 with 26,850 total admissions from 127 screens for Scanbox. 
• The female-led comedy The Food Club sold an extra 15,561 tickets to reach 61,780 in its second week on screens via SF Studios. 
• The children franchise Father of Four & the Vikings released by Nordisk Film added 9,372 admissions from 93 screens. With 289,850 total admissions so far, the film is the 4^th biggest local hit of 2020.
• Shorta, the action drama by first timers Anders Olholm and Frederik Louis Hviid, sold 8,216 tickets from 74 screens and is now nearing 100,000 admissions after 4 weeks on screens via Scanbox.  

In Finland, the biopic Tove climbed back to number 1 last weekend. In its 5^th week, the film directed by Zaida Bergroth has sold a total of 112,142 tickets. The local kids franchise Ricky Rapper & the Wrong Vincent was number 2 with total tally now at 124,000.

The two films released by Nordisk Film were also the biggest selling titles in October, when local film’s market share sky-rocked to 71.6% according to the Finnish Film Foundation, thanks also to other audience pullers, such as the biggest documentary of the year Lost Boys (62,870 admissions), Ville Jankeri’s Forest Giant (74,487), Virpi Suutari’s documentary Aalto-Architect of Emotion (39,471), Hami Ramezan’s debut feature Any Day Now (14,024) and Teemu Nikki’s comedy Nimby (6,968).

In Iceland, last weekend no local films were in the top 10, but recent domestic hits include the comedies Grandma Hófi by Gunnar Björn Guðmundsson (22,410 admissions) and The Last Fishing Trip by Þorkell S. Harðarson and Örn Marinó Arnarson (35,206).

In Norway the anticipated third instalment in the local action movie series Børning directed by Hallvard Bræin is dominating the charts with 243,916 total admissions after three weeks for SF Norge.

Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round was second in its second week, with 21,042 total tickets sold so far for Arthaus. The Norwegian animated film Two Buddies and a Badger - The Great Big Beast (Knutsen & Ludvigsen 2-Det Store Dyret) was number 5 last weekend for Norsk Filmdistribusjon. Over 200,000 Norwegians have watched the second film in the Knutsen & Ludvigsen franchise produced by Tordenfilm. Børning 3 and Two Buddies and a Badger - The Great Big Beast are respectively the second and third biggest films of 2020 (after Frost 2 released late 2019) in Norway.

They were also the top grossing films in October, and largely accounted for last month’s healthy 59% local market share. Other Norwegian films that are attracting audiences despite covid-restrictions include Charlotte Blom’s dramedy Diana’s Wedding (46,702) and the documentary hit The Painter and the Thief (26,711).

According to Film & Kino, Norwegian films’ market share stands at 30.5%, in a market more than halved compared to the same period in 2019, with 4.2 million tickets sold after 10 months, against 8.9 million in 2019.

In Sweden last weekend’s champion at the box office was the local family film Nelly Rapp-Monster Agent based on Martin Widmark’s celebrated books. In its second week, the film has sold 85,531 tickets for SF Studios.

After the UIP/Universal’s Trolls World Tour and the French/Belgian animated Bigfoot Family released by Scanbox, the local chiller The Other Side by Oskar Mellander and Tord Danielsson ranked number 4 for NonStop Entertainment, with 25,636 combined admissions after two weeks.

Two local family films released by SF Studios were respectively number 6 and 10 last weekend: Michael Lindgren’s Bert’s Diary which has sold 122,761 tickets after 13 weeks, and Rymdresan by Patrik Forsberg (61,886).

A new entry last weekend in Swedish cinemas was Josephine Bornebusch’s social distancing film Orca produced by Warner Bros International Television Production Sweden for NENT Group’s Viaplay. The film released by Lucky Dogs sold 1,029 tickets from 48 screens. The film’s premiere on Viaplay is set for November 13.

Sources: FAFID, Danish Film Institute, FRÍSK, Finnish Film Foundation, Norske Filmbyråers Forening, Film & Kino, Filmweb.no, Filmägarnas Kontrollbyrå.