Finnish cinemas down 6.6%, local films lose 10% share
In 2011, Finnish cinema admissions dropped by 6.6% - from 7.6 million to 7.1 million – mainly due to the performance of domestic films which in spite of a record number of 34 releases lost 10% of their market share, controlling 17% from a 1.2 million attendance, against 27% in 2010.
”Considering the Finnish result has varied between 27%-10% during the past ten years, 17% is an acceptable score, although we had hoped for more, considering the great variety of films,” said Managing Director Irina Krohn, of the Finnish Film Foundation, which has published the figures.
”2012 looks promising, so far with two strong openings – Taru Mäkelä’s Storage, and the new Vares installment, The Path of the Righteous Men – and we will see the premieres of films that have been in production, such as Niko 2 and Iron Sky. At the same time, we have introduced a new support scheme for projects with a strong market potential.”
Finnish veteran producer Markus Selin’s Vares franchise contributed strongly to the local result, with three top-grossing titles accounting for 31%, including No 1, Anders Engström’s Vares - Kiss of Evil [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (pictured). Aki Kaurismäki’s award-winning Cannes contender, Le Havre [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Aki Kaurismäki
film profile], came in second.
Among the Finnish theatrical line-up were six documentaries and for the first time five shorts, two of them screened as opening acts before features. The year’s most popular film was UK director David Yates’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile] which sold 389,000 tickets.
Finnish top five films - 2011
1 - Vares - The Kiss of Evil - Anders Engström
Distribution: Nordisk Film AB - 204,647 admissions
2 - Le Havre - Aki Kaurismäki
Distribution: Future Film Oy Ab - 116,727 admissions
3 - Vares – Garter Snake - Lauri Törhönen
Distribution: Nordisk - 88,811 admissions
4 - Sixpack [+see also:
trailer
film profile] - Ville Jankari
Distribution : Nordisk - 79,740 admissions
5 - Vares – The Girls of April - Lauri Törhönen
Distribution: Nordisk – 78,687 admissions
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