22/03/2006

With 14.6m tickets sold, Swedish cinema attendance fell by 12% in 2005 compared to 2004, according to figures published by the Swedish Film Institute. While the theatrical market was at its lowest level since 1999, the DVD sector reached a peak with total wholesale turnover amounting to €160m, against €119m in box office receipts.

The market share of Swedish films decreased by 0.8% to 22.5%, despite a higher number of new releases (40, as compared with in 2004). The most popular Swedish film of the year was Maria Blom’s Dalecarlians [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Maria Blom
film profile], produced by Memfis Film (see Cineuropa Film Focus) and released by Sonet Film, which earned 652,545 admissions.

The 2004 Swedish hit As It Is In Heaven [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Kay Pollak, which was seen by approximately 1.16m filmgoers, also managed to rank among the three best-selling titles of 2005, with an extra 272,076 admissions sold.

Last year’s most successful film was the UK/US co-production Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, which attracted 741,067 cinemagoers. Among the biggest non-domestic titles, only two European films managed to make it above the 100,000 admissions mark, alongside 20 other titles (16 of which were US): the animated film Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit [+see also:
trailer
film profile], released only in October 2005 by UIP, it registered 156,807 admissions in 2005; and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, released by Buena Vista to a total of 140,654 admissions.

Admissions for the Top Five Swedish films of 2005
Dalecarlians by Maria Blom 652,545
Pistvakt by Stefan Apelgren 274,571
As It Is In Heaven [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Kay Pollak 272,076
Zozo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Joseph Fares 268,805
Before the Frost by Kjell-Åke Andersson 257,337