One of the leading distributors of home entertainment in the Nordic and Baltic countries, with a library of over 2,000 film and TV titles, PanVision also distributes hardware devices and computer games. The company's staff of around 100 people will be merged with Scanbox's 50+ workforce and all Nordic offices should remain active, according to the companies' official statement. "Competition is intensifying in our industry and with this agreement we can work together on Pan Vision's titles and also get access to Pan Vision's expertise and experience," said Mikael Modig, CEO for Scanbox Entertainment.
"The increased pace of change in the industry means that we need to streamline our operations, and with this agreement, Pan Vision can now focus on its core business in computer games and PC hardware", added Per Almgren, Pan Vision managing director.
Scanbox had a turnover of DKK 270 million in 2010. The company's international line-up includes a mix of high quality and commercial films such as Midnight in Paris, Colombiana, The Lady (part of a 17 title distribution deal signed recently with EuropaCorp) and Potiche. In terms of Nordic titles, the 30 year-old Scanbox has traditionally invested in Danish and Norwegian films, achieving healthy box office success with family franchises like Father of Four in Denmark and Twigson (Knerten) in Norway. According to Scanbox chairman Joni Sighvatsson (pictured) who spoke to Screendaily, the plan is now for his group to up its investments in Swedish and Finnish films. "One of our goals is to have enough market share in each territory to make a difference. With this [acquisition] we should have over 10% market share in every [Nordic] territory," he said.
Upcoming Nordic releases on Scanbox line up include Twigson in a Pinch by Arild Østin Ommundsen produced by Paradox (September 23 in Norway), Father of Four-Back to Nature by Claus Bjerre produced by ASA Film Production (October 6 in Denmark) and Where Once we Walked by Peter Lindholm produced by Helsinki Filmi (October 28 in Finland). Recent acquisitions from Scanbox Norway include Petter Næss's Comrade with an international cast including Rupert Grint, David Cross, Florian Lukas and Stig Henrik Hoff.