Journey has not opened yet in Norway but it seems to have caught fire with world buyers at the American Film Market last week. How many countries have acquired the film so far?
SMK: At this point we have 74 countries that have signed up. These include Japan, China, the UK, Germany, France, all CIS territories, Latin America and Middle East and we are in negotiations with Spain and Benelux. We are absolutely delighted with our sales agent Sola Media.
Having the Walt Disney machinery for a kid movie is like a dream come true. What kind of marketing campaign have they put together for the film?
SMK: The campaign is huge and consists of mix of outdoor posters in public places, ads on radio, television, online, social media etc. Moskus Film is collaborating with Egmont and several promotion and merchandise partners so Journey's visuals and characters are all over books, puzzles, games and even food products. In addition we have done a lot of PR work and have been invited to several talk shows.
This week for instance we will be in NRK's main news programme; the Norwegian Minister of Culture will be invited to discuss film export and our film will be used as an example for a successful export title.
It was quite a coup for you and your production partner in Moskus Film Jan Erik Langøen to get Disney on board your very first feature project, plus this is actually the first Norwegian film that The Walt Disney Company Nordic is launching on screens...
SMK: Yes. Disney had been on the look-out for a Norwegian film for quite some time as part of their strategy to develop local brands in the Nordic region. The challenge was not to convince Disney's Norwegian branch but their Nordic main office in Stockholm since the story is not known in Sweden, and we succeeded. The film has all the family qualities and huge market potential so it fits perfectly the Disney brand.
Let's go back to the film. What is the story based on and how did the project land on your desk?
SMK: The film is based on a famous theatre play which premiered in 1924. Sverre Brandt wrote it for the National Theatre and it has been one of our treasured stories for years, with music written by one of Norway's most famous composers Johann Halvorsen. The story of a 12-year old girl who goes on a quest to find the Christmas Star to break a curse is a beautiful and classical tale about the good forces that prevail. Especially in our times, it's important to hear that kind of story.
Our scriptwriter Kamilla Krogsveen came to us with the idea to make a film. The real challenge was to get the rights. Sverre Brandt's grand-daughter was very sceptical and she had already been approached by 8 or 9 other film companies before. Jan Eirik and I presented to her our vision and we convinced her that we would make a film that would be truthful to the original play. On Sunday she attended the premiere in Oslo and she was very pleased with the film.
How did you approach Nils Gaup?
SMK: It was a suggestion from our production partner Jørgen Storm Rosenberg who had worked with him on The Kautokeino Rebellion. We wanted an experienced director on the project. Nils was actually climbing Mount Everest when we called him. When we applied for support from the Norwegian Film Institute, he had just arrived back home and gave his approval.
Having Storm Rosenberg on board must have been comforting as they had produced the Magic Silver franchise...How was your collaboration, what was the film's total budget and who else was involved in the financing?
SMK: The relationship with Storm Rosenberg came out of my work experience as line producer on the last Magic Silver film. As this was Moskus Film's first feature production, we needed experienced producers to help us putting the financing together. The film cost Nearly NOK29 million and we had NOK4 million on top of that for marketing. Besides Storm Rosenberg and Disney, our other partners are Storyline Studios, Gimpville (who shared the VFX work with Storyline), the Norwegian Film Institute, Nordic Film & TV Fond, NRK, CMore plus investors Fuzz, Filmcybator, Sparebank 1 Nord-Norge.
How was your experience on working with special effects?
SMK: I knew nothing about it, so my first reaction was to phone Marcus Brodersen at Filmkameratene who worked on big projects like The Troll Hunter. He was our visual effects producer and I worked closely with him all the way through. Now I know that everything is possible with VHX but it's very expensive! You have to know where to put your money wisely as every shot has a price attached to it. We had 210 VHX in the film. That is nearly half the number of Kon-Tiki's shots.
What is the Nordic release plan?
SMK: The story is not that well known outside of Norway so the plan for Disney is to release it at the same time in Sweden and Denmark after Norway. We're planning to do dubbed versions for Germany, the UK and most other territories that will probably go for a Christmas 2013 release.
What's your next project?
SMK: We are currently developing a youth film based on Arne Svingen's book Sangen om en brukket nese which last week was nominated for the ‘Brageprisen'. The book has been distributed both in Denmark and Sweden. Then we have another project set during WW2 which will be bigger than Journey.
We're really keen to make films for a wide audience, both nationally and internationally. We want to continue to make family films that people from different generations can watch together in cinemas. That's the magic of film and the way I remember it as a kid.
Is cross media something that you're interested in developing?
SMK: We haven't come that far yet but yes, I'd like to continue to exploit projects on different platforms. Journey is already developed as a film, book, music (EMI). With our WW2 project, I'm looking forward to developing educational adds-on.