Charts have a bottom, too – only 155 met Miss Julie, while 928 saw Exteriors

30/12/2011

This year Danish director Susanne Bier’s In A Better World [+see also:
trailer
film profile] collected both the Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Foreign-Language Feature, while Lars von Trier’s Melancholia [+see also:
film review
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interview: Lars von Trier
film profile] scooped three European Film Awards, including Best European Film. Norway is celebrating that Norwegian director Morten Tyldum’s Headhunters [+see also:
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film profile] and the other 2011 local releases have pushed the Norwegian market share to a record 24.6%.

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But there is always a lower end to the charts – both in Denmark and in Norway, local - and mostly state-subsidised productions have grossed less box office than could cover advertising and marketing costs to advertise and market the launches. In both countries, five domestic features have attracted audiences of less than 3-4,000.

”Obviously these ‘small’ Danish films are a millstone round the neck of the theatres. Still, we are trying to live up to our cultural obligation of screening them to the audiences who paid for them through public film support,” explained head of the Danish Cinemas Association Kim Pedersen, who would appreciate more promotional effort to back the releases.

Denmark’s 2011 best-seller was Martin Zandvliet’s A Funny Man [+see also:
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film profile], which reached 483,178 tickets. The Low Five include Thomas Staho’s Love Is in the Air [+see also:
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film profile] (2,983), Michael Asmussen’s Something in the Air (2,327), Christoffer Boe’s Beast [+see also:
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film profile] (1,685), Rune Schjøtt’s Skyscraber (1,118), and Linda Wendel’s Miss Julie [+see also:
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interview: Linda Wendel
film profile] (155).

Norway’s 2011 local charts were commanded by Morten Tyldum’s Headhunters [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which clocked in 556,806 admissions. The bottom was occupied by Anette Sjursen’s Pax (3,500), Gunnar Hall Jensen’s Gunnar Goes God (3,495), Øystein Stene’s The Bambi Effect (2,690), Mathieu Peteul-César Ducasse’s Dark Souls (1,824) and Patrik Syversen’s Exteriors (928).