US audiences hungry for Lamb - Icelandic Oscar contender

The Noomi Rapace vehicle which world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, opened in the US October 8 at number 7 despite its R-rating, grossing more than $1 million from 583 screens, an all-time high debut for an Icelandic film.

In its second weekend, the film ranked number 8, selling an extra $543,000 from 865 screens for a screen average of around $628. As of October 10, the film had a cumulated gross of $2,037,730 according to Box Office Mojo.

At home, Lamb opened September 23 via Sena and is still number 6 at the top 10 after four weeks on screens.

Written by first time director Valdimar Jóhannsson with celebrated author, poet and lyricist Sjón, Lamb tells of a farming couple - Maria (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snær Guðnason) whose routine life is disrupted when they discover a strange new-born in their sheep barn.

Read our interview from Cannes 2021 with Valdimar Jóhansson: CLICK HERE.

Lamb was just selected by the Icelandic Film and Television Academy as national contender for Best International Feature at the 94^th Academy Awards. In its justification for the film’s unanimous Oscars selection, the Icelandic jury said: “The director and his artistic collaborators manage to create an especially captivating story and mood that straddles the unclear boundaries between realism, horror, and fantasy. The imagery is strong and the material is presented in an extremely daring and original way. From the first moment, the viewer is pulled in and then led on a mysterious and exciting adventure, but the story is also a thoughtful study of human nature, grief, and loss."

The film was produced by Hrönn Kristinsdóttir and Sara Nassim for Iceland’s Go to Sheep, in co-production with Piodor Gustafsson and Erik Rydell (Black Spark Prod, Sweden), Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska and Jan Naszewski (Madants Poland), with support among others from Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

After its Cannes world premiere where it won a Prize of Originality from Un Certain Regard, Lamb picked up three awards at Sitges for Best Film, Actress and Revelation for Valdimar Jóhansson.
The film will continue to roll out across the world in the upcoming months, including in the UK December 10 via MUBI and France December 29 via The Jokers.