After the Millennium trilogy, Swedish films are back to normal

by Jorn Rossing Jensen

03/06/2011 - Two more Swedish premieres in 2010 than the year before were not enough to keep the market share above 30%: the 3.3 million tickets sold for 43 local releases took it to 20.8%, slightly under the 22.1% average for the last 10 years, according to statistics published by the Swedish Film Institute.

In 2009 Yellow Bird's production of Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [trailer, film focus], The Girl Who Played with Fire [trailer] and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest [trailer] - pushed the local market share to 32.7%, from 5.7 million admissions - the best result registered by the institute (which has launched cinema statistics since 1963). The films ended no 1,2 and 6 on the Top Ten list.

Last year two Swedish productions qualified to join the 10 blockbusters, Daniel Espinosa's adaption of Jens Lapidus' thriller Easy Money [trailer] (600,884 admissions), and Josef Fares' Balls [trailer] (449,107). Another four titles were among the 20 best-grossing releases, including Simple Simon [trailer], The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (again), Behind Blue Skies [trailer] and House of Angels - Third Time Lucky.

"Even without the massive audience success og the Millennium trilogy the year before, 2010 was still a good year in terms of market share, both at the cinemas and in other screening formats. 2010 showed that Swedish film as a brand can hold its ground, also internationally," said deputy director Bengt Toll, of the Swedish Film Institute, currently acting ceo.

Total admissions in Sweden 2010 reached 15.8 million, 9% down on 2009. US product dominated the theatres, controlling 64% of the attendance (against 54% in 2009), and occupying the remaining eight positions on the list of Top Ten Films. US director James Cameron's science fiction epic, Avatar, was the only movie to exceed a million admissions (1.027,977).