Admissions Finland, Iceland, Sweden - First Six Months 2014

Finland: 27% market share for local films
Around 4.4 million Finns went to a local cinema during the first six months of 2014, down 5% year on year. After last year’s record high 32% market share thanks largely to the comedy 21 Ways to Ruin a Marriage, local films came down to 23%, which was their overall market share for 2013.

As usual, children’s films boosted the results for local films and the franchise film Ricky Rapper and Slick Leonard under Disney’s banner took to the top of the charts, ahead of the US blockbuster The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smau (SF Film). Another four Finnish films entered the Top 10 including two films by Saara Cantell released by Nordisk Film: the children’s film for under 5s Jill and Joy (number four) and romantic comedy The Two and Only (number 10). Meanwhile the Swedish hit The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared released by Disney sold nearly 100,000 tickets.

After a long summer break –no Finnish films were released in June and July- the local feel-good movie for young female audiences Summertime by first time director Inari Niemi opened strongly early August and is currently number two at the local Top ten (81,131 admissions). Harri Ahokas, Head of Domestic Distribution for the Finnish Film Foundation is confident the curve will continue to rise upwards for local films this autumn with the upcoming release of Dome Karukoski’s The Grump (selected for Toronto), the animation film The Moomins on the Riviera by Hanna Hemilä and Xavier Picard and the Swedish/Finnish co-production Raspberry Boat Refugee by Leif Lindblom that just won the Nordic Film Award in Haugesund.

Top 10 Finland first six months 2014, source Filmikamari

Iceland: upturn in domestic admissions
After several years of downslide, admissions were back up by around 10% during the first six months of the year thanks notably to the Icelandic film Life in a Fishbowl by Baldvin Z that stormed to the top of the charts after its May 16 release via Sena and is still number 8 today with more than 45,000 admissions. Ben Stiller’s fantasy film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty partly shot in Iceland also drove admissions up. 

Icelandic films’ market share climbed from a low 4.01% in 2013 to 12.11% these first six months of the year,with a total of 65,511 admissions for four films, against 22,091 admissions for six films during the first part of 2013 according to the Icelandic trade association SMAIS. 

Upcoming releases include Graves and Bones by Anton Sigurdsson, The Grandad by Bjarni Haukur Thorsson, adapted from his own successful play and Brave Men’s Blood by Olaf de Fleur, the stand alone sequel to his 2011 hit City State.

Top 10 Iceland first six months 2014, source SMAIS

Sweden: 100 Year Old Climbs to the Top
The Swedish comedy The 100 Year-old Man who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared released in December 2013 by Walt Disney continued to have a tsunami effect on domestic and general admissions during the first six months of 2014. Felix Herngren’s film took the top of the charts and reversed the downturn cinema attendance trend, pushing total cinema entries up by 6.6% and contributing 1.57 million to the general 7.84 million admissions during that period. 

The comedy pushed the local films’ market share to 28.2% (against 19.5% in 2013 for the same period) and accounted for more than 50% of the 2,212,697 admissions for Swedish films.

Other domestic films that carved themselves a fourth and sixth place at the Top 10 respectively are the children animation film Bamse and the City of Thieves and the comedy The Andersson’s Hit the Road, both released by Nordisk Film. Another good performer was the arthouse film The Reunion that sold over 90,000 tickets for TriArt.

Prospects for the second half of 2014 look rosy as well with 24 Swedish films set to hit domestic screens, including Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure that opened at number five last weekend.
Pia Lundgren, head of the International Department at the Swedish Film Institute said: “Ruben with Roy Andersson (whose A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence is competing in Venice) and Mikael Marcimain [Gentlemen] are seen as Sweden’s greatest contemporary directors so these are very exciting times for us, both nationally and internationally. Then for this autumn we have a fantastic line up of documentaries, many children’s films, including some targeting the 8-12 age group such as The Boy with the Golden Pants and Tjuvarnas Jul-Trollkarlens dotter. Many films are tackling political issues and as Sweden is approaching general elections, it’s a perfect timing as it will put the focus on film as quintessential art form to steer debates. “

Top 10 Sweden first six months 2014, source Swedish Film Institute