07/06/2005

Lars von Trier’s Manderlay [+see also:
trailer
film profile] opened last weekend in Denmark to disappointing results despite positive reviews and high-awareness following its Cannes competition entry.
Released by Nordisk Film with 26 prints –a good release pattern for a film considered as an art-house title-, Manderlay attracted only 4,290 Danish cinema-goers since its Friday opening. The second film in von Trier’s USA trilogy took the 8th position in the top 10 Danish charts, beaten by two other national offerings: the comedy Adam's Apples [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Anders Thomas Jensen
interview: Mads Mikkelsen
interview: Tivi Magnusson
film profile] at number 5 after 8 weeks on general release, and the thriller Restless Souls at 6th position after two weeks.

Although a household name and a prominent figure in Danish cinema, Lars von Trier has never really managed to make it in the mainstream at home, and is certainly more popular abroad. Indeed, looking at distribution figures published by the Danish Film Institute’s Facts and Figures 2005, von Trier’s films have never passed the 300,000 admissions cap at home: his most successful film at home was Breaking The Waves (298,548 admissions in 1996) followed by Dancer In The Dark (202,782 in 2000) and Dogville [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (109,712 in 2003). In comparison last year’s local hit King's Game attracted over 550,000 people in Denmark. Whereas outside Denmark, Lars von Trier is the most popular Danish director. Dancer in the Dark was the top Danish film abroad between 1996-2004 with over 3.5m admissions in Europe and an extra 755,907 in the USA, followed in second position by Breaking The Waves with almost 3m admissions in Europe and 900,000 in the USA.

For Füsun Eriksen, Head of Marketing for Trust Film Sales responsible for selling von Trier’s films around the world, the Danish ‘enfant terrible’ is definitely more successful outside of Denmark, and the Danish results had no effect on the sales potential of the film which was pre-sold nearly everywhere in the world before its Cannes presentation. "Manderlay didn’t open too well in Denmark, but it might slowly climb the box office ladder, just like Dogville did in 2003 she told Cineuropa." "Another element to consider is that the production level of Danish films has drastically increased over the last decade, so there is a lot of competition from other local films. Also, von Trier has always been considered at home as a real auteur for specialised audiences."

Manderlay will be released next autumn in most international territories including Benelux (A-Film) in September, and France (Les Films du Losange ) and the UK (Metrodome) in November 2005.