Once upon a time in Fortnite: North brings 19th-century magic into the digital age

The 3D animation film North (Reisen mot nord) follows Gerda. She sets off into the unknown to rescue her friend Kai, who has been taken by the Snow Queen. The film is directed and written by Bente Lohne, and is based on H.C. Andersen’s fairy tale story “The Snow Queen” (”Snedronningen”, 1845), which is set in Copenhagen in the 1800s. This scenery has inspired a gaming universe in Fortnite. A distribution initiative for North was launched at the end of October.

Norwegian PictoryLand, the production company behind North, has co-produced the film with Finnish Anima Vitae. Main producer Håkon Gundersen is pleased with the collaboration.

“It was a great collaboration, and they were a wonderful partner with some super talented animators. Anima Vitae is one of the absolute leading animation studios in the Nordic region, and we’re proud to have been working with them.”

The growing collaboration between film and gaming companies

Gundersen is convinced that filmmakers have to try new ways to reach audiences across platforms:

“Fortnite is a very interesting arena for engaging with the potential audience. Even Disney has invested immense amounts of money in the Fortnite universe to really try to engage a new frontier of connecting with the audience.”

Even if the narrative of the film is left largely untold, players can enjoy parts of the universe that the film’s main character Gerda sets off to explore. The gaming part focuses on exploration and personal customisation of this fictional world.

Gundersen underlines how major animation companies that traditionally have protected their characters, their expressions and environments, now explore new collaboration methods within gaming to connect with new audiences.

“It’s both a challenge for us as filmmakers to be flexible enough to essentially accept that there are certain restrictions to Fortnite, but still keep the actual audience connected to the fact that there's also a film.”

Not every animation company is willing to have their IPs adapted to global gaming platforms. Gundersen, however, sees that there is a growing interest in these sorts of collaboration:

“I see a trend that is definitely moving towards more connections between the Fortnite universe and, for example, games, TV series, or films. But there still is a lot of people sitting there wondering if they should really move into this field. We're very excited to do it, and I think that it's a really great way of creating an awareness of the film North.”

Nordic 19th Century Writers and Star Actors of Today

The filmmakers have also sought inspiration from 19th century Nordic authors: Danish H.C. Andersen (1805-1875), Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940), and Swedish-speaking Finnish author and journalist Zacharias Topelius (1818–1898), who wrote in Swedish.

“It was all about trying to understand the period around the 1870s, when this fantastic fairy tale takes place. We try capture the spirit, essentially, of the film as H.C. Andersen may have wanted it to be made.”

Besides the digital initiatives, a book on the film has also been published in Norwegian.

North has already been sold to over 60 countries, and for the dubbing into English and Danish, Mads Mikkelsen is voicing the character Severin, the father of Kai, Gerda’s friend, whom she sets off to rescue from the Snow Queen.

“You can’t talk to Gerda about rocket science”

The filmmakers have also created an app on which you can talk with the main character Gerda. The app will be launched in Norway close to the national premiere November 7. According to Gundersen, the app is a way for the audience to know the main character better:

“We see the connectivity between our story and what we want to tell and the use of the app as a bit of an extended experience. It's the same as with the Fortnite game, where you're in a world that is kind of similar to the one in the film.”

In the app, Gerda will answer questions, but only related to topics she knows:

“She was a young girl in the 1870s, so obviously it's predominantly focusing on her world and her understanding. If you get into things to do with rocket science, she wouldn't actually know how to answer that in a meaningful way,” Håkon Gundersen explains.

The options for the voice of Gerda is still being explored, and Gundersen points out that it has become easier to create localised versions.

“I think it is an add-on to the film experience in itself, and also to understand a bit more about the wonderful storytelling universe of H.C. Andersen.”

The future of filmmaking in animation

The consulting producer on the film is founding member of Pixar, Ralph Guggenheim, who produced the world’s first CGI animated feature film, Toy Story. This has led Gundersen and Guggenheim into interesting conversations on the future of the animation industry:

“We had a lot of discussions about the future of filmmaking. And I think that at the end of the day, it's not about technology – it's about the story. And I think that's the last thing that will be cannibalised by AI, hopefully,” Gundersen concludes.

“As you launch a film these days, with all these great opportunities, if you have the ability to use these different channels, I think it will certainly strengthen what's happening at the box office.”

NFTVF has supported dubbing and distribution of North to Denmark and Iceland.

Official trailer: