Exclusive: Last weekend the 3D animated film had the 6th best opening for an Icelandic film in the last five years.

Ploey-You Never Fly Alone will also premiere on February 16 at Berlin’s European Film Market.

Released by Sena, the family film by Árni Ólafur Ásgeirsson, co-directed by Gunnar Karlsson and Ives Agemans, posted 5,699 admissions or ISK 5.97m from 8 screens and outperformed the BO gross of two recent major animated films Paddington 2 and Coco which opened at 4.9m and 5.5m respectively. According to Konstantín Mikaelsson, Sena’s Head of Theatrical, the last animated film to open bigger was Despicable Me 3 in July 2017.

The only Icelandic animated film that had a stronger opening was Legends of Valhalla-Thor (8,000 admissions) created by the same Icelandic team behind Ploey, producer Hilmar Sigurdsson and co-director Gunnar Karlsson of GunHill studios (part of Sagafilm).

Ploey tells the story of a young golden plover who has trouble learning to fly and fails to migrate with his family to warmer climates. With the help of friends, he is able to survive in a world full of natural enemies and is, at the end, celebrated as a hero.

“The Lóa - or 'plover' is our national bird and perhaps the best-loved bird species in Iceland,” said Sigurdsson. The film’s strength is also in the subtle humour, strong visual style and musical score composed by the talented Atli Örvarsson [RAMS, The Hitman’s Bodyguard]. With 60 musicians in the symphonic orchestra and 30 choir people, we had one of the biggest musical scores ever made in Iceland.”

For Sigurdsson, the biggest challenge was putting the €7 million budget together. Belgian co-producers Cyborn came up with 50% of the financing and handled the 3D production process, modelling, rigging, vfx, rendering, based on the artwork provided by GunHill. “We had a perfect collaboration, with a common artistic ambition and goal,” noted the producer.

Germany’s international sales agent ARRI Media International was also a key partner from development stage and pre-sold the film to more than 50 territories, including Finland (Filmkompaniet), Poland (Kinoswiat), France (Ocean Films), the UK (Signature), Italy (Minerva), Turkey (Bir Films), the Baltics (Big Sales), Russia CIS (Big Movie), China (H.G.C. Entertainment), Latin America (CDC), and Middle East (Shooting Stars). ARRI has booked two market premieres at the EFM on February 16 and 19.