24/09/2009

With a total 476,881 admissions for Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland over its opening weekend (September 18-20), the second adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], released by Nordisk Film, broke the opening figures (470,000 admissions) of the first instalment, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Niels Arden Oplev
interview: Søren Stærmose
film profile].

Although the second film, directed by the Sweden’s Daniel Alfredson, had weaker reviews than the first made by his Danish counterpart Niels Arden Oplev it still took top position in the local charts in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Denmark had the strongest opening with 181,225 admissions from 125 screens, followed very closely by Sweden with 179,222 admissions from 187 screens, and Norway (103,631 admissions from 114 screens).

In Finland – where the Millennium trilogy doesn’t enjoy the same passionate following – the film was second after Inglourious Basterds [+see also:
trailer
film profile], with 12,803 admissions from 41 screens. Italy is next to open the film this Friday, followed by Spain on October 23.

Dragon Tattoo was seen by over 2.9 million people across Scandinavia and over six million people worldwide, making it the world’s third top earning foreign-language film of 2009. For the films’ producer Yellow Bird and distributor Nordisk Film, who decided to turn the original television versions of the second and third films into theatrical releases, the excellent opening of The Girl Who Played with Fire has proved them right.

All three films, starring Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist, are sold internationally by Zodiak Entertainment.