30/12/2003

Local comedies, an animated film and even a first feature film were among the top two or three films of the Christmas period in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, proving once again the great potential of local fare in Scandinavia.
Predictably, The Lord of The Rings: The Return Of The King largely dominated the local box offices with screen averages three times higher than the second top performers, but Disney’s Finding Nemo had to fight with Scandinavian films for a second or third place in the Top 10 chart during the weekend 26-28 December.

In Sweden, Peter Dalle’s Skenbart released on the December 26 by BVI Sweden grossed $250,265 from 63 screens with a good screen average of almost $4,000. The comedy drama produced by S/S Fladen was immediately ranked third on the weekend’s chart in front of Love Actually [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. Another new Swedish family comedy: Immediate Boarding (Tur och Retur) by Ella Lemhagen who made her name with the first Tsatsiki children film was launched on Boxing day by Columbia TriStar/Nordisk Film on 74 screens, but took a disappointing $1,891 screen average. The acclaimed Evil took another 68,425 for 10th position on its 14th week of release, making it one of the year’s top grossing Swedish film with over $8,8m.

In Denmark, Anders Gustafsson’s first feature film Scratch (Bagland) was launched on the 26th by Nordisk Film on only 31 screens in Denmark. But it scored the second best screen average ($5,400) and second position at the Top 10 after The Lord of The Rings, with a total weekend gross of $167,396 (over a million Dkr). The love triangle with Stephanie Leon, Nicolas Dufour, and Christopher Laessø was produced by Nimbus Film. Among other European films, the French Swimming Pool was also launched on the 26th by Camera Film and took a $25,973 gross from 7 screens. Good Bye, Lenin! released by Ost For Paradiset continues to perform really well on its 18th week, keeping its 13th position of the top 20.

In Norway, the animated film Captain Sabertooth produced and released by Svensk Filmindustri was successfully launched on the 26th on 70 screens. The ambitious Nkr 41,5m production about the most feared pirate on the seven seas took the second slot at the top 10 local chart with a $313,905 gross over the three day weekend.

In Finland, the local comedy Land of Love by Ilkka Vanna stayed at Number 3 of the local Top 10 on its second week of release. The MRP Matila Rohr production starring Irina Björklund and Ville Hapasalo grossed over 134,000 over the weekend from its 41 screens, beating Love Actually at number 4.