Across the Nordics, Disney’s Avatar-the Way of Water swam easily to the top mid-December and has since sold 550,942 tickets in Sweden, 493,381 in Denmark, 393,129 in Norway, 168,802 in Finland and 36,621 in Iceland. But a mix of attractive local comedies, Christmas family films and event war movies have proven strong alternatives to Hollywood fare.

Last weekend in Denmark, three Danish films ranked in the Top 10: the SF Studios Love You for Now (Elsker Dig For Tiden) by co-writers/director/acting duo Julie Rudbæk and Jesper Zuschlag, came second for SF Studios, and reached 46,770 admissions after two weeks.

Paprika Steen’s feelgood Fathers and Mothers climbed from number 9 to 7. After nine weeks on screens via Nordisk Film, the film is nearing 350,000 admissions, making it the third biggest film of 2022, while Christian Dyekjær’s All I Want for Christmas 3-The Magic Time Machine ranked number 9 and sold an extra 2,396 tickets to reach 106,856 admissions after 8 weeks.

According to preliminary figures from the Danish Film Institute, local films accounted for about 30% of the market in 2022 from approximately 3 million admissions.

In Finland, Lapland Odyssey 4 by Juha Wuolijoki, was the third most watched film of the week after Avatar 2 and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. The fourth instalment in the comedy-action franchise released by SF Studios has sold 53,649 tickets after two weeks.

The family film The Hullabaloos! directed by Reetta Huhtanen opened at number 4 with 25,907 admissions for Nordisk Film, and the kids franchise about the heroic guinea pig Super Furball Saves the Future directed by Joona Tena reached 126,613 admissions after 12 weeks on screens via SF Studios and kept its 9^th position in the top chart.

The family film produced by Yellow Film & TV is among only three local titles released in 2022 that managed to cross the 100,000 viewer mark in 2022, with Mika Kaurismäki’s Grump 3 (192,885), and Klaus Härö’s English language My Sailor, My Love (110,269).

According to the Finnish Film Foundation, local films ended up with a 26.9% slice of the 2022 cinema market from 1.56 million ticket sales.

In Iceland, the only local film in the top chart last weekend was Summerlight and Then Comes the Light by Elfar Adalsteins which came in at number 10. After 12 weeks on screens, the Sena release has sold 4,182 tickets.

Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness distributed by Bío Paradís ranked number 7, and added 80 tickets to its totally tally of 8,670 after 12 weeks on screens.

In Norway, 2022 closed with panache thanks to Disney’s Avatar: The Way of Water, but also thanks to a trio of event local titles under Nordisk Film’s banner.

Released simultaneously on Christmas day, Erik Skjoldbjærg’s WW2 drama Narvik and Rasmus A. Sivertsen’s animation film Three Robbers and a Lion sold respectively 208,324 and 175,931 tickets after one week and kept their 2^nd and 3^rd place at the top 10.

At the same time, Andrea Eckerbom’s family film Teddy’s Christmas sold an extra 2,825 tickets for a 5^th place at the top charts. After 8 weeks on screens, the film has attracted 264,403 cinemagoers.

Meanwhile Gunnar Vikene’s WW2 drama The War Sailor released by Scandinavian Film Distribution closed the year with 404,045 admissions, making it the most successful Norwegian film and fourth biggest hit of 2022 after Spider-Man: No Way Home (569,541), Top Gun: Maverick (545,042) and Minions: The Story of Gru (432,810).

According to the Norwegian cinema association Film & Kino, over 522,090 tickets were sold during the Christmas season, which is lower than the 604,660 sales in 2019, but a sharp increase compared to the same period in 2021 (139,760) and 2020 (90,429), the two pandemic years.

Cinema attendance in Norway is estimated to reach 9 million in 2022, up 50% from 2021.

Trailer: The War Sailor

In Sweden, a similar rich offer of local fare contributed to boosting the end of year admissions. Besides the box office US champion Avatar, The Way of Water and UIP/Universal’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, three Swedish films ranked in the top 5 last weekend.

Nordisk film’s family film Håkan Bråkan by Ted Kjellsson took the second place after James Cameron’s epic sci-fi, with 22,431 admissions from 145 screens, for a total of 108.590 admissions since its December 25 release.

Felix Herngren’s comedy Long Live the Bonus Family ranked number 4 thanks to 11,172 additional ticket sales, which brought the film’s total tally to 201,133 after 5 weeks.

Another anticipated SF Studios release - the sci fi youth offer UFO Sweden from the film collective Crazy Pictures, kept its 5^th position after one week on screens with 4,903 admissions, a 26% drop from the previous weekend. So far 32,007 Swedes have watched the film

Trailer: UFO Sweden

Two other Swedish films were in the top 10 last weekend: SF Studios’ family franchise JerryMaja’s Detective Agency: The Riddle of the Scorpion, which has sold over 193,000 tickets after 10 weeks, and the Swedish Oscar entry Boy from Heaven by Tarik Saleh, watched by nearly 50,000 Swedes after seven weeks on screens via TriArt.

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