20/09/2012 - The latest adaptation by Dutch director Will Koopman is another success, selling more than 100,000 tickets in fewer than two weeks

Though virtually unknown abroad, Dutch director Will Koopman is one of the hottest and most successful female directors in Europe at the moment. Her latest effort, the thriller The Renovation [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (De verbouwing), sold more than 100,000 tickets in fewer than two weeks.

The film, which was released on September 6, reached the milestone in just 11 days, which is impressive given the fact that most Dutch films are considered a success if they sell this number of tickets during their whole run in cinemas. The title is currently still playing on a very wide release in 109 screens.

With The Renovation, Koopman has adapted another thriller by bestselling author Saskia Noort, who also wrote the novel that inspired Koopman’s first cinema feature, The Dark House, which was also a success.

The story of the renovation of the home of a successful female plastic surgeon, Tessa (Tjitske Reidinga), that goes awry was adapted for the screen by Lex Wertwijn, who also adapted The Dark House. Lead actress Reidinga worked with Koopman on the successful TV series Viper’s Nest, which was also turned into a film by Koopman that became a huge success, selling over 1.9m tickets, becoming the fourth most-visited film in Dutch history.

The film was produced by Gijs van de Westelaken for Column Film, with backing from the Netherlands Film Fund. Entertainment One Benelux distributes the film.

The Renovation will also be screened at the Netherlands Film Festival, which kicks off on September 26 in the city of Utrecht. The film will be the only Dutch film in cinemas until early October, when a raft of features, including Toronto title Nono, the Zigzag Kid, will be released after the Utrecht event.