27/09/2012 - Although a genre film, after having grossed $47 million in the US, Danish director Ole Bornedal's American horror movie will be released on November 22 in Denmark

Although genre films generally have problems at the local box office, Danish distributor Nordisk Film A/S has set the theatrical release of Danish director Ole Bornedal's American horror movie The Possession for November 22.

Nordisk Marketing Director Jan Lehmann would not exclude that in case of a strong opening weekend in the US he could squeeze the Ghost House Pictures-North Box production into the schedule – and on August 31 The Possession went straight to No 1 on the US charts, having so far grossed $47 million.

Co-produced by American horror specialist Sam Raimi (who directed Spider-Man, The Evil Dead), the film stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyre Sedgewick in the story of a young girl who buys an antique box at a yard sale, unknowing that inside lives a malicious ancient spirit.

"It was exciting to accept Raimi's offer to film an almost finished script – in a way it was a challenge to my craftsmanship rather than the artistic confrontation I find in the screenplays I write myself," explained Bornedal, who was thrilled by audiences' response and – accordingly – that of the producers.

"My approach to the film was to break with the endless clichés of the genre, and to make it more human and present, instead of just shuddering. It became possible due to an excellent cast – the result was a mixture of empathetic and everyday adventure."

Bornedal was about to start his Danish television series 1864 - an eight-part historical drama series produced by Miso Film with Danish pubcaster DRTV – when The Possession came around, but he was happy he found the time to do it. 1864 will shortly go into production, to be aired in 2014.