10/05/2006

Unlike 2005, which saw admissions fall by 5% to 11.3m and local films market share loose 1% (14% in 2005), Norwegian films have been launching a new offensive on the domestic market since the beginning of the year, which culminated in April with record admissions of 1.2m (702,000 more than April 2004) and a 23% market share.

From six Norwegian releases in 2006, two have exceeded 200,000 admissions: the franchise children’s film The Junior Olsen Gang at the Circus by Arne Lindtner Næss, produced by Nordisk Film (236,346 admissions); and Bjørn Fast Nagell’s comedy Long Flat Balls, produced by Zwart Arbeid (225,979 admissions).

Three others have passed the 100,000 mark and are continuing to climb: Comrade Pedersen by renowned filmmaker Hans Petter Moland, produced by Motlys AS (178,972); Svein and the Cat, produced by Maipo Film (121,139); and this year’s Critics’ Week entry at Cannes, Free Jimmy [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a CGI animated film by Christoffer Nielsen, which has sold over 103,352 tickets in only two weeks. The most expensive film ever made in Norway (€12.8m), and produced by local animation company Storm Studio in co-production with Sarah Radclyffe in the UK, Free Jimmy is already the 13th most popular film of the year in Norway.

Another eleven Norwegian films will be launched over the rest of the year, and the next one to open on May 26 through Sandrew Metronome is Jens Lien’s The Bothersome Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jens Lien
interview: Jørgen Storm Rosenberg
film profile], which will first have its world premiere at the Critics’ Week in Cannes on May 20.