08/05/2007

Scanbox Entertainment , one of the leading independent distribution groups in Scandinavia with offices in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, has taken a sizable share in Norwegian production outfit Paradox Holdings AS .

The 10 year-old production company is run by established filmmaker Erik Poppe (Hawaii, Oslo [+see also:
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film profile]) and producers Finn Gjerdum and Stein B. Kvae. The companies have been working together since 2002 and enjoyed box office and critical success with Hawaii, Oslo in 2004 (nearly 200,000 admissions and Norway’s entry for the Oscars) and in 2005 with Arild Fröhlich’s Pitbulterje (180,000 admissions).

Scanbox Norway’s CEO Jim Frazee, who sees this purchase as a “natural” step for all parties, will continue to act as executive producer on Paradox’s feature films, alongside Scanbox Entertainment’s head of production Mads Peter Ole Olsen. “We will continue to handle Paradox films on a film by film basis, but the aim is to distribute all if not most of their films,” said Frazee.

Currently filming is Poppe’s drama De Usynlige (lit. “The Invisibles”). The €2.5m film tells the story of two individuals who try to come to terms with what has happened to them: a woman who has lost her child and a young man who has become a murderer.

The next Paradox film to go into production this year is Annette Sjursen’s second feature film Pax, a drama about seven people trapped in an airplane ready to explode. Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist will play one of the leading roles.

Similar deals with other Norwegian production companies could follow, according to Frazee, as part of Scanbox’s overall strategy to get involved in an earlier stage in local Nordic productions. “Scanbox’s philosophy is to focus more on local feature film production and to invest in and support new as well as established talents in the Nordic countries”, explained Hollywood-Icelandic producer Joni Sighvatsson, who acquired 75% of Scanbox early 2006.