Nordic Admissions 2013-Part 1: Denmark-Finland

30% Market Share for Danish Films 
According to preliminary figures from the Danish Film Institute, total admissions in 2013 remained stable at 13.5 million (vs 13.6 million in 2012) and total admissions for Danish films reached 4,065,860. With four very different Danish films in the top five titles -a quality crime movie, a drama, a children’s film, a comedy and a biopic -domestic films contributed to keeping cinema attendance up and counter-balanced the loss from several US blockbusters that underperformed. Indeed only two US films passed 300,000 admissions (The Hobbit-The Desolation of Smaug/465,726) and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire/336,105) against six in 2013. 

The market share for Danish films was 30% (up 1%) compared to 56% for US films, 12% for Europe and 1% for the rest of the world. Last time Danish films had a record high market share was in 2008 (33%).

Steffen Andersen-Møller, Head of the Audience and Promotion Department at the Danish Film Institute said: ’There should be films for all Danes, which doesn’t necessarily mean that people should see the same films. In 2013 the diversity of films did exactly that and we are very pleased with four Danish films in top five and a local market share of 30 % in a highly stable cinema market.
The line-up for 2014 look promising as well with new films from strong and well-established directors and teams such as Susanne Bier, Bille August, Niels Arden Oplev, Pernille Fischer Christensen and Kristian Levring. “

TOP TEN DANISH FILMS 2013

⃰ Films still playing in cinemas in 2014 - Source: Danish Film Institute/FAFID

FINLAND
Local films stay strong with 23% market share
In 2013 total admissions reached 7.8 million of which 1.9 million went for Finnish films. Domestic titles had a 23% market share, down 5% from the previous year, but 2012 was an exceptional year both for domestic films (2.4 million admissions, best level since 1969) and for cinema-going as a whole (8.5 million admissions, best level since 1983).

Among the top ten films of 2013, four were Finnish and the biggest Finnish film was also the biggest selling title of the year: the comedy 21 Ways to Ruin a Marriage (403,045 admissions) directed by a female director: Johanna Vuoksenmaa.
Harri Ahokas, Head of the Distribution department at the Finnish Film Foundation stressed two trends: “First of all local documentaries took 14 % of all domestic admissions and two of them were in the domestic TOP 10. The film Finnish Flash-a Teemu Selänne Story is a portrait of the Finnish ice-hockey star Teemu Selänne. The success of the film is the final proof that Finns are crazy about sports. Another documentary, Tale of a Forest sold 80,000 tickets last year (total 87,500). Families enjoyed watching this very special film with animals and birds shot in their natural surroundings.

Another small trend is that five independent Finnish films made without any kind of public support got their premiere in local cinemas. This is quite new in Finland as until now almost every cinema release has been supported by the Finnish Film Foundation.“
“Looking ahead, 2014 should be another strong year,” continues Ahokas, “in particular thanks to children’s films and well-known brands such as the fourth edition of the ‘Ricky Rapper’ family franchise and a fifth edition of the ‘Kummeli’ comedies. “

TOP TEN FINNISH FILMS 2013

⃰ documentaries
Source: Filmikamari/Finnish Film Foundation