03/07/2007

Following a very healthy first quarter of 2007, with a 35% market share for Swedish films and a drop of only 1% for total admissions year on year, cinema attendance has slid again by 31% in April according to preliminary figures from the Swedish Film Institute.

“April was down, but only compared to 2006, which was an exceptional year with the best results in 15 years thanks to films like Chicken Little and Heartbreak Hotel [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (top Swedish film of 2006). But if you compare the figures with 2005, they are up 31 percent,” said Thomas Bryntesson, head of statistics at the SFI.

The top three local films in April were the Nordisk Film release Beck: The Weak Link (66,000 admissions), part of the popular local detective story; followed by Helena Bergström’s Mind the Gap [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (25,000 admissions, SF Film) and Maria Blom’s Nina Frisk (Sonet Film, 15,000 admissions).

Local films had a very good start of the year with a 35% market share for the first three months, up almost 10% over last year. The Swedish comedy Göta Kanal 2 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Pelle Seth released by SF Film was the biggest hit for all titles released with 590,000 admissions and a 14% market share. But other local films also fared well, such as Johan Brisinger’s Suddenly, fifth at the Top 10 with 218,646 tickets sold, followed by Mind the Gap at number six (204,861 admissions).

Stephen Frears’ UK film The Queen [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andy Harries
interview: Stephen Frears
film profile], released by Sandrew Metronome, was the eighth most popular film during the first quarter, with 165,352 admissions between early February and the end of March, and it is still holding well with in 14th position in the current Top 20 (as of June 17). Another European film performing well is Olivier Dahan’s La Vie en Rose [+see also:
trailer
film profile] with a €22,923 gross for Sandrew Metronome and a ninth place slot in the Top 10.