27/01/2021 - Nevertheless, last year saw a 57.1% drop in admissions, according to figures published by the association Film & Kino

Asphalt Burning by Hallvard Bræin

The Oslo-based cinema association Film & Kino has published the figures for the country’s 2020 box office. Despite a significant drop in cinemagoing (-57.1% admissions), caused by the shutdown of the cinemas between March and May and the newly enforced restrictions throughout the year, domestic titles secured an historic 35.6% market share, beating the previous record figure from 2018 (25.1%).

Overall, the 2020 national box office totalled 4.8 million admissions (as against 11.3 million in 2019) and made a profit of 557,743,079 Norwegian crowns (approximately €53,427,000). In detail, the highest-grossing title of the year was Hallvard Bræin’s Asphalt Burning [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (285,904 admissions), distributed by the Norwegian division of SF Studios and released in October. Other successful domestic productions include Gunhild Enger and Rune Spaans’ Two Buddies and a Badger 2 - The Great Big Beast [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (214,419 admissions, ranked third), Johanne Helgeland’s The Crossing [+see also:
trailer
interview: Johanne Helgeland
film profile] (139,708 admissions, ranked seventh), Pål Øie’s The Tunnel [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (135,736 admissions, ranked eighth) and Tove Undheim’s Twigson and the Sea Monster (129,950 admissions, ranked ninth).

Finally, the foreign productions attracting the highest number of viewers were Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck’s Frozen 2 (283,403 admissions, ranked second), Sam Mendes’ 1917 [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (191,376 admissions, ranked fourth), Christopher Nolan’s Tenet [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (188,416 admissions, ranked fifth), Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite (150,748 admissions, ranked sixth), and Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi’s Bad Boys for Life (117,254 admissions, ranked tenth).