Where there's a will, there are sales: Malabar picks up Marklund for the US
For its first theatrical release early-mid-2012, new US specialized distributor, Malabar Entertainment, has picked up Nobel’s Last Will, the first of six drama-thrillers from Swedish author Liza Marklund’s novels featuring crime reporter Annika Bengtzon. Malabar plans to become a leading distributor in the art-house market.
The deal was closed at the recent American Film Market, where ”there was a huge interest for the film – it was sold to more than 30 countries”, according to Development Executive Erik Hultkvist of Swedish production outfit Yellow Bird Production, which is part of the Zodiak Media Group.
At the AFM Zodiak Rights also licensed the film to Lumière (for Benelux), Frenetic Films (Switzerland), Rialto Film (Australia-New Zealand), Sinetel (Turkey), EAP, Carmen Film, MCF Megacom (eastern Europe), BooGeeYoungHwa (Korea), Filmware (Taiwan), Pratama (Indonesia), Conquest (Brazil) and Viva Entertainment (Middle East).
Credited with the Millennium trilogy and Headhunters [+see also:
trailer
film profile] bestsellers, Yellow Bird is about to finish shooting of the €11 million series, with one film for theatrical - Nobel’s Last Will – and five straight for DVD and television (TV4 in Sweden, ARD in Germany).
Scripted by Pernilla Oljelund, Stefan Thunberg, Alex Haridi and Antonia Pyk, Swedish actress Malin Crépin (pictured) stars as Bengtzon, working at a bustling tabloid, Kvällspressen, who's trying to combine motherhood with career ambitions; the cast includes Richard Ulfsäter, Felix Engström, Björn Kjellman, Leif Andrée, Kajsa Ernst and Erik Johansson.
”Bengtzon is somewhat different from Millennium’s Lisbeth Salander, who looks as if she just emerged from a week-long orgy with a gang of hard rockers,” said Yellow Bird Producer Jenny Gilbertsson. ”Bengtzon is a very composed person, both endearing and unnerving in her dedication to her work.”
Nobel’s Last Will, which will be domestically released on March 2, March 9 in Norway and Finland, June 7 in Denmark – all through Nordisk Film Distribution AB - is realised by Danish director Peter Flinth (Arn – The Knight Templar 1+2, the Wallander and Unit One television series), who will also helm the final installment, A Place in the Sun.
The remaining films - Studio Sex, Prime Time, The Red Wolf, Lifetime – will be shared between Swedish directors Agneta Fagerström-Olsson and Ulf Kvensler. Gilbertsson produces for Yellow Bird with TV4, ARD Degeto and Danish major, Nordisk Film Production AB.
A No. 1 bestseller in all five Nordic countries, Marklund’s Bengtzon books are the most successful cycle by a Scandinavian female writer, selling 10 million copies, and translated into 30 languages. Two have previously been adapted for the screen by UK-Swedish director Colin Nutley, Bomber [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], aka Deadline (2001) and Paradise [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2003).
Did you enjoy reading this article? Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive more stories like this directly in your inbox.
