2015 was a record-breaking cinema-going year in Denmark and Finland where admissions rose by 19% and 15% respectively and domestic market shares reached 29.8% in Denmark and 29% in Finland.

Denmark: second best year for local films since 1976
Following a lackluster 2014, general admissions went shooting back up to a record 14.1 million, up 15% from 2014, the second highest level since 1982 according to preliminary numbers from FAFID. 

Similarly Danish films that were down in 2014 compared to 2013 (3.34 million vs 3.8 million) rebuilt their audience to a record high at 4.2 million admissions, a 28% increase compared to 2014 and the second best result since 1976. This gave local titles a solid market share of nearly of 29.7% -  among the highest in Europe.

A strong indicator of the connection between Danish films and local audiences was the wide range of titles that scored at the box office. As many as 10 films sold more than 200,000 tickets, the highest number ever registered since 1979.

The biggest Danish hit of 2015 was the comedy Klown Forever (512,056 admissions), third most popular film of the year after the Hollywood tentpoles Spectre (897,834 admissions in 2015) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (530,706 admissions in 2015). Two other Danish films were in the Top 10: Anders Thomas Jensen’s black comedy Men and Chicken (359,278) and the children’s franchise film My Canadian Adventure-The Quest for the Lost Gold (324,765 admissions).

The most successful documentaries of the year were Amy by UK director Asif Kapadia (64,960 admissions, Camera Film) followed by the Swedish films Ingrid-In Her own Words (22,185 admissions, Miracle Film) and Björn Afzelius: tusen bitar (15,613, Camera Film). The Swedish documentaries were also the most successful non-national Nordic films released in 2015, far ahead of Out of Nature (2,779, Øst for Paradis) and Louder than Bombs (2,607, SF Films). The most popular Danish documentary was Ejersbo by Christian Holten Bonke that sold 5,168 tickets.

Upcoming Danish films that should find a large audience include Thomas Vinterberg’s The Commune, Henrik Ruben Genz’s Satisfaction 1720/Tordenskjold & Kold, Ask Hasselbalch’s Antboy 3, and the latest film in the Jussi Adler-Olsen thriller series A Conspiracy of Faith

TOP TEN DANISH FILMS 2015 (Source FAFID/Danish Film Institute)

FILMS

Admissions 2015

Distribution

Release Date

Klown Forever

512.224

Nordisk Film

24.09.15

Men & Chicken

359.278

Walt Disney Nordic    

05.02.15

My Canadian Adventure-The Quest for the Lost Gold

324.765

All Right Film

05.02.15

Summer of 92

316.938

FC/SF

27.08.15

All Inclusive

307.207

FC/SF

25.12.14

Father of Four on a Wild Holiday

253.175

Nordisk Film

02.10.15

April 9th

241.011

Nordisk Film

12.03.15

People Get Eaten

236.725

Nordisk Film

26.02.15

The Shamer’s Daughter

225.268

Nordisk Film

26.03.15

A Second Chance

215.613

Nordisk Film

15.01.15


Finland: 29% market share for local films 
2015 was an excellent cinema-going year in Finland with an increase both in general admissions and market share for domestic films. Indeed 36 new Finnish films sold 2.6 million tickets, beyond the previous record of 2012 (2.4 million) and the highest level in the era of modern cinema statistics (after 1970). Market share for domestic films soared at 29%, up 2% compared to 2014 according to preliminary data from the Finnish Film Foundation and Filmikamari. 

General admissions also grew considerably from 2014 to 8.8 million (+19%), making it the second time this century that the 8 million mark was passed. For Reetta Hautamäki, information officer at the Finnish Film Foundation, one of the key factors that contributed to admission boom over the last few years is screen digitization, and in 2015 the number of screens increased to over 300 for the first time in six years.

The variety of titles on offer was another key element. As many as five Finnish films made it in the Top 10 Films 2015 and eight sold more than 100,000 tickets. With 505,376 admissions, the comedy The Reunion was the second biggest local title of the 2000s after Bad Boys (615,000 admissions in 2003), and second best-selling film of 2015 after the 007 film Spectre (647,075 admissions). Other Finnish films that scored were sequels (Lapland Odyssey 2, Ricky Rapper and the Scrooge of Seville, Jill & Joy’s Winter) and the war drama The Midwife by Antti J Jokinen based on Katja Kettu’s best-selling book.

The most popular Finnish documentary of 2015 was Mother’s Wish by Joonas Berghäll (11,285 admissions) and the best-selling non-national Nordic film was another documentary film: Ingrid Bergman-In Her Own Words by Swedish director Stig Björkman with nearly 8,000 admissions.

2016 releases with strong potential at home include Aleksi Salmenperä’s The Mine, Aleksi Mäkelä’s Love Records, Lauri Nurkse’s Look of a Killer, the kids’ franchise Ricky Rapper and the Nighthawk and Antti J. Jokinen’s Flowers of Evil.


TOP TEN FINNISH FILMS 2015 (Source Filmikamari/Finnish Film Foundation)

FILMS

Admissions

Distribution

Release Date

The Reunion

505.376

Nordisk Film

25.02.15

Lapland Odyssey 2

378.534

Nordisk Film

30.09.15

Ricky Rapper and the Scrooge of Seville                     

315.966

Walt Disney Nordic    

13.02.15

The Midwife

226.203

Nordisk Film

04.09.15

Jill and Joy’s Winter

217.254

Nordisk Film

09.10.15

Big Game

130.121

Nordisk Film

19.03.15

Vares-The Sheriff

110.102

Nordisk Film

07.10.15

Adult Camp

109.906

Nordisk Film

23.01.15

Homecoming

84.211

SF Film

21.08.15

We Are the Pirates of the Roads

76.554

Nordisk Film

27.03.15


Written by Annika Pham