The Norwegian/Danish/Swedish co-production supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond has sold over 270,000 tickets since mid January and is the biggest grosser of the year so far. Other Norwegian titles that have performed very well, contributing to the 500,000+ admissions since January (against 1.7m for Norwegian Films for the whole of 2007) include three feature debuts: Stian Kristiansen's The Man Who Loved Yngve (over 84,000 admissions in ten days for Sandrew Metronome), the low budget chiller Backwoods by Patrik Syversen (70,000 in six weeks for Euforia Film), and Eva Sørhaug's Cold Lunch (62,000 in three weeks for Nordisk). The children's film SOS-Summer of Suspense by Arne Lindtner Næss also scored in its first ten days with 70,000 admissions for Nordisk.
Commenting on the good performance of Norwegian films these last two months, Lene Løke, head of the Norwegian cinema association Film & Kino, said: "Today, there is a lot of competition between cinemas and other film carriers such as DVD. People choose much more carefully when they go to the movies, and films have to be much more interesting and appealing. Our Minister of Culture Trond Giske has shown a great interest in film and has given the opportunity for filmmakers to make better movies. Also, for the last ten years, we've had our National Film School (in Lillehammer) where a younger generation of filmmakers and producers have been nurtured and are now hitting the market. These are various reasons that can explain the increased market share for Norwegian films that will hopefully reach 20% for the whole of 2008, which is very high for Norway."
The next Norwegian films to hit domestic screens include the action thriller Night of the Wolf by Kjell Sundvall (February 29), the youth drama Respect by first-timer Johannes Joner (March 7), the sequel to the local hit Long Flat Balls by Harald Zwart (March 14) and Varg Veum-Fallen Angels by Morten Tyldum (April 4).