BOX OFFICE Norway
Twigson climbs to top of 2010 chart
by Annika Pham
05/11/2010 - Last weekend, Martin Lund’s children’s film Twigson Ties the Knot(Knerten) [trailer] reached almost 360,000 admissions, making it the most successful film of 2010 so far. The Paradox production was released on September 24 by Scanbox.
The second film based on the literary children’s classic by Anne Cath. Vestly has sold more tickets than popular US fare such as Inception, The Twilight Saga-Eclipse, Shrek Forever After, Alice in Wonderlandand Sex & the City II. Only Avatar clocked more admissions this year (over 758,000), but it actually opened in December 2009.
Ranked number four last weekend after six weeks on national screens, Twigson Ties the Knot still has a good life ahead of it, especially as this upcoming Saturday is Norway’s Store Kinodagen ("Big Cinema Day"), when tickets are sold half-price. The film mixing live action and animation tells the story of a little boy’s friendship with a twig and their adventures, including a love story between Twigson and Karoline, a birch twig.
The first Twigson [trailer] film was the sixth most popular film of 2009 with 350,000 admissions. A third film of the series, Knerten i knipe, will be released in Norway next autumn. The Twigson franchise is sold internationally by Sola Media.
Other Norwegian films are currently playing strong on local screens. The thriller The Troll Hunter opened last weekend in first place for SF Norge. Youth film The Liverpool Goalie, selected for the Berlinale 2011 Generation programme (see news), was number five in its second weekend for Euforia Film. Horror movie Cold Prey 3 (released by Nordisk Film) was sixth in its third weekend with over 136,000 admissions, and the thriller Nokas (Sandrew Metronome) in seventh place in its fifth week, with 221,818 admissions.
Two Norwegian films are opening today: Vibeke Løkkeberg’s documentary Tears of Gaza, released by Tour De Force, and the comedy Happy, Happy (Sykt Lykkelig) by Anne Sewitsky, starring Agnes Kittelsen (Max Manus [trailer]). Bent Hamer’s Home For Christmas [trailer, film focus] will open on November 12.
