28/04/2006

After last month’s scarce success for local fare at the Dutch box office (see news), April has not offered much in terms of consolation.

The most successful Dutch film of 2006 has been the Ronald Giphart adaptation A Thousand Kisses (Ik omhels je met duizend armen), which accumulated €333,000 in its five-week run, of which €63,000 this month. The film did well when compared to the other releases, but will nevertheless only find a spot in the bottom half of the 100 highest grossing Dutch films released since 1992. The film was produced by IdtV Film and released by A-Film.

The hip-hop musical Gangsta Blues (Bolletjes Blues), a late March release, grossed €120,000 in its three-week run, making it the second-best local production of the year. Directed by the female duo Hillenius and Junger, the film was produced by DMM (Dutch Mountain Movies) and distributed by BVI Netherlands. The two new films of April – Rotterdam competition entry Northern Light [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: David Lammers
interview: Jeroen Beker
film profile] (see Focus), a Motel Films production, and the Frisian language Sportsman of the Century, a Dutch-German co-production that involved PV Pictures, Staccato Films and Neue Impuls Film – did not do enough business to enter the box office top twenty. The latter film accumulated a mere 2,000 admissions in its first weekend, making it the second disappointment in a row for distributor UIP, after March’s The Fury of the Entire World .

What did the Dutch see? The answer is simple: Ice Age 2. The US animated film has retained the top spot in the box office since its release a month ago. Perhaps the new children’s film Don, which premiered yesterday, can do something to reverse the trend.