26/02/2009

Nordisk Film Distribution has put together a unique pan-Scandinavian release for Niels Arden Oplev’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Niels Arden Oplev
interview: Søren Stærmose
film profile], based on the first book of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium crime trilogy.

The event movie produced by Sweden’s Yellow Bird will be launched this Friday on 166 screens in Sweden and 100 in Denmark, where the Millennium trilogy was particularly popular (approximately thee million copies sold in Sweden and 1.1 million in Denmark). The film will then open on 86 screens in Norway on March 13 and on 15 in Finland on March 27.

To ensure that Oplev’s film reaches the widest possible audiences in Scandinavia, it was presented by Nordisk Film as an international, not a Swedish, thriller. The Scandinavian distribution giant also decided not to reveal any images of Swedish actress Noomi Rapace as hacker Lisbeth Salander, until The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opens in Sweden and Denmark. “She is the one who everyone is fascinated with so we decided to keep her secret until the very end,” said Jan Lehmann, head of distribution for Nordisk Film Denmark.

Nordisk Film also used word-of-mouth at the heart of its strategy and Lehmann said around 40,000 tickets were sold from preview screenings. The film received very good reviews in both Sweden and Denmark and newcomer Rapace was particularly praised for her inspired performance.

The film will open in France (UGC) and in Italy (BIM) in May. At the recent European Film Market in Berlin, Zodiak Entertainment Distribution closed further sales to Spain and Poland for the feature film version and six TV films based on the trilogy. Switzerland acquired rights for the feature film version. Other territories that have acquired rights to the films include Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands.