Headhunters takes €1.2 million in UK, opens in US today

by Jorn Rossing Jensen

27/04/2012 - When US distributor Magnolia Pictures launches Norwegian director Morten Tyldum’s thriller Headhunters [trailer] today (April 27), it is supported by a strong track record: the Jo Nesbø adaption has just become this year’s highest grossing foreign-language release in the UK.

After a drop of only 35% in its third week, the Aksel Hennie-starrer has now earned €1.2 million from 101 sites at the UK-Ireland box office for Momentum Pictures, to place No 11 on the charts (as last week), surpassing Indian director Sajid Khan’s romantic comedy, Housefull 2:The Dirty Dozen, the best foreign-language performer to now.

After its opening weekend, the Marianne Gray and Asle Vatn production for Yellow Bird Norge AS and Friland registered the same screen average as the Swedish Millennium No 1, Danish director Niels Arden Oplev’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [trailer, film focus], which after three weeks took €1.3 million, but from 126 screens.

An international sell-out for Denmark’s TrustNordisk, Headhunters will after the US release open in Brazil, Romania, Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg and Greece. US studio Summit Entertainment has acquired English-language remake rights. According to Box Office Mojo, worldwide box office stood yesterday at €11.8 million.

Danish major, Nordisk Film Production A/S, which participated in the production, handled Scandinavian distribution. Domestic attendance reached 560,000 admissions, for a No 2 position on the 2011 national charts (after Harry Potter); in Denmark it sold 220,000 tickets, or seven times as many as the most popular Norwegian film so far.