02/10/2015 - Spearheaded by Mikkel Nørgaard’s Klown Forever, local titles are heading towards their best year since 1977

After a slow performance over the summer, Danish films have made a roaring comeback that must have registered on the Richter scale, commented Kim Pedersen, CEO of the Danish Cinemas Association, as he discussed the latest charts. “In September, Danish productions accounted for 46.3% of all cinema tickets sold, and after last weekend, local films had reached three million admissions this year. So far, Danish titles have controlled 31.1% of the market,” Pedersen explained. 

Three films have made a real difference: Mikkel Nørgaard’s Klown Forever [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which sold 229,474 tickets in its first week; Kasper Barfoed’s Summer ‘92 [+see also:
trailer
interview: Esben Smed
film profile], now having exceeded 274,400; and Tobias Lindholm’s A War [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tobias Lindholm
film profile], Denmark’s Oscar submission, so far standing at 60,566. 

“October is traditionally the best month of the year for theatres, and there will be only one new Danish film – Giacomo Campeotto’s Father of Four – On a Wild Holiday [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – to fly the flag for Denmark. But I am sure that Klown Forever will last a long time.” 

US releases also performed well in September: Klown Forever (number two), Summer ‘92 (number three) and A War (number five) were surrounded by US directors Pete Docter’s Inside Out (number one, with 356,607 admissions) and Wes Ball’s Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (number four, with 91,484 admissions). 

So far, Danish theatres have recorded almost 10 million admissions – 21% more than in 2014 – so Pedersen stands by his prediction that this year’s end result will break the 1977 record of 14.2 million, thanks also to new US movies by Nancy Meyers, Francis Lawrence, JJ Abrams, Sam Mendes and Ridley Scott.