30/08/2007

The Danish filmmaker Ole Bornedal (Nightwatch) has made history this week by scoring at the domestic box office with not only one, but two feature films.

Bornedal’s latest thriller Just Another Love Story took the second place at last weekend’s Top 10 in Denmark, scoring 36,000 admissions by mid-week, while the filmmaker’s family thriller The Substitute [+see also:
trailer
film profile] released 11 weeks ago continues to hold with over 190.000 tickets sold and an 11th place at the box office. Both films released by SF/Filmcompagniet were produced by Thura Film. Nordisk Film International Sales handles world distribution.

Just Another Love Story is the story of a gentle but worn-down husband and father who takes the identity of another man to start a new life, until the truth comes out. In the lead roles are Anders W. Berthelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, and Charlotte Fich. Sune L. Thomsen, Film and Distribution manager at SF Film Denmark said that the film’s target audience is the adults aged 27 to 55, with a slight female skew. “The admission figures are right on target” he said. One of the key elements that contributed to the film’s success was its selection as one of seven ‘must-see movies’ by Biografklub Danmark (Cinema Club Denmark).” With its 180,000 members, the association which offers cinema tickets at half price, guarantees at least the same number of admissions and a theatrical release on 50 prints”, explains Thomsen.

“We never intended to release two Ole Bornedal films almost at the same time, but the release of The Substitute was delayed and Biografklub Danmark who wanted Just Another Love Story as the opening film of their new film season, asked us to move the film’s release from October to August. But it’s not a big deal as both films target different audiences”, stressed Thomsen.

Bornedal’s film career had a meteoric rise in 1994 when his thriller Nightwatch established him as a leading figure of the new Danish film wave in the 1990s. He directed The Substitute and Just Another Love Story back to back, after a four years absence from the big screen.