10/01/2003 - Half-a-million fewer Norwegians went to the cinema in 2002. The reasons are high ticket prices and the US blockbuster invasion

Norwegian cinemas reported a drop of around 500,000 admissions during 2002. After a significant 9.6 per cent increase in 2001, Norwegian exhibitors experienced a 3.5 per cent drop in 2002. According to “Film & Kino” magazine’s Lene Loken, the reason is the high cost of tickets, a general lack of film theatres nationwide and the huge success of international blockbusters like The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.
“Both these films took so much space that distributors – wary of competition – delayed releasing smaller and medium-length features,” explains Loken. Even Die Another Day must wait its turn despite having been released in other Scandinavian countries. Not even Norway’s two domestic box office hits, Jeg er Dina and Karlsson pa taket failed to bring in the filmgoers.

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