25/03/2014 - The film version of Nesbø’s children’s book Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder has taken 218,466 admissions after two weekends – and his thriller Cockroaches is on top in the US

Norwegian journalist-turned-author Jo Nesbø is hovering at the top of the charts both at home and abroad: while the film adaptation of his 2007 children’s book, Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder, is number one at the local box office, his 1998 Harry Hole thriller, Cockroaches, is at the top of the New York Times’ bestseller list.

Norwegian director Arild Fröhlich’s adaption of Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder [+see also:
trailer
film profile] – the story of two children’s meeting with their new neighbour, an eccentric professor who invents strange potions, including an industrial-strength fart powder that sends people to outer space – has taken 218,466 admissions after just two weekends (for Nordisk Film Distribusjon) and is already the third most-seen film of the year.

”The opening figures exceed all expectations – we are pretty much ahead of our own box-office estimates,” said Norwegian producer Synnøve Hørsdal, who staged the production with Cornelia Boysen for Maipo Film & TV. They are currently preparing the next Doctor Proctor movie, adapted from 2008’s Doctor Proctor Bubble in the Bathtub (see news), also to be directed by Fröhlich, with Norwegian actors Emily Glaister and Kristoffer Joner in the lead roles. The first book has also been adapted for the stage by Norway’s Riksteatret.

Earlier this month, Nesbø published a new thriller, The Son, in Norway, which is set to be released in the US, where his Cockroaches is number one on the New York Times’ bestseller list. According to his literary agency, Salomonsson, the film rights for his upcoming Blood on Snow, written under a nom de plume, have been sold to Warner Bros, allegedly with Leonardo diCaprio among the producers. The screen adaption of his 2007 Harry Hole novel The Snowman is still in preparation – meanwhile, he has found time to write a TV series for Norwegian pubcaster NRK, Occupied, to be realised by Norwegian director Erik Skjoldbjærg.