24/10/2008

Stylish Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: John Nordling
interview: Tomas Alfredson
film profile] by Tomas Alfredson is opening simultaneously today in Sweden, Norway, and in the US – a first for a Swedish genre film.

Today’s day and date release has been adapted for a targeted small-to-medium release with a tailor-made campaign by Sandrew Metronome’s Swedish and Norwegian branches, in coordination with Magnolia Pictures’ specialised arm Magnet Releasing in the US.

“This was part of our strategy,” explains Åshild B van Nuys, promotion manager of Sandrew Metronome Distribution (SMD) Norway. “We know that there are so many people out there who have been waiting for it, a lot of fans of the book [by John Arjvide Lindqvist], but also everywhere after very good reviews and the positive buzz online.”

The buzz started last February when the film had its first international exposure at Berlin, then through its many festival awards, such as Tribeca, where it won Best Narrative Feature. In Norway, the film is coming out on five screens and could benefit from the current success of local horror film Cold Prey 2 (183,335 admissions in ten days for Nordisk Film), although for van Nuys, “Alfredson’s film will appeal to a broader and slightly older audience.”

In Sweden, the film was supposed to come out last spring but was postponed “to give it more time for marketing” according to SMD Sweden’s Marketing Manager Pia Norström. It is now opening on a run of 35 prints (35mm), plus another 34 digital.

In the US, Let the Right One In is opening on four screens in Los Angeles and in New York, followed by a rollout in other US cities. The film is the inaugural release in Magnet’s “Six Shooter Film Series”, six films highlighting the vanguard of genre drama from around the world. The film produced by EFTI in Sweden, will open in France on February 4 (Chrysalis Film). Bavaria Film International handles world sales.