With cinema attendance up 5.7% in 2011, Norway scores Europe's best result

by Jorn Rossing Jensen

11/01/2012 - Selling 11.7 million tickets in 2011 - up 5.7% on last year – Norwegian theatres delivered the largest growth of the theatrical market in Europe. And with 2.9 million admissions, domestic fare controlled 24.5% of the market (2010: 23.3%) – the best result since 1976, according to statistics published by Norwegian cinema association, Film & Kino.

Norwegian director Morten Tyldum’s Headhunters [trailer] (pictured) was the local front-runner with an audience of 557,086, and it was only surpassed in the charts by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 [trailer]. At the same time it was Norway’s international top seller, licensed to almost 70 countries by Denmark’s TrustNordisk.

”The admission increase is partly due to the strong performance of local films – a record of 40 releases in 2011,” explained head of communications Birgitte Langballe, of Film & Kino. ”Partly the digitisation of the cinemas, which allows small and medium-sized screens to improve their repertoire and programme more titles.”

For the fourth year, local productions sold more than 2.5 million tickes. Besides Headhunters, two titles qualified for the top ten: Arild Østin Ommundsen’s Twigson in Trouble (No. 5, with 313,359), and Arne Lindtner Næss’s Magic Silver 2: The Quest for the Mystic Horn (No. 8, with 216,916).

At the same time, Norwegian films were in strong demand at international festivals: André Øvredal’s The Troll Hunter [trailer, film focus] was presented at more than 45 international film festivals, followed by Marius Holst’s King of Devil's Island [trailer], Anne Sewitsky’s Happy, Happy [trailer] and Arild Andresen’s The Liverpool Goalie [trailer] (between 36-31).

”2011 was a year when Norwegian cinema made its name around the world,” said Norwegian Film Institute CEO Nina Refseth. ”Sewitsky, Joachim Trier and Jens Lien were acknowledged as some of the most interesting directors, Norwegian films were named the most exciting festival entries both by critics and programmers.”