Baltasar Kormákur’s film boosted local films' market share that climbed from 4.8% in 2015 to 6.6% in 2016.

 According to the cinema association FRISK, Kormákur’s Icelandic film The Oath posted 46,786 admissions/ISK 63,713,364 gross BO and was the top selling film of the year, making it the third year in a row that a local filmmaker topped the local film chart.

In 2015,Kormákur’s US/UK film Everest was the best-selling title and in 2014 it was Baldvin Z’s Life in a Fishbowl. Anton Sigurdsson’s thriller Cruelty (Grimmd) was the second most successful Icelandic film (19,587 admissions), followed by the comedy drama In Front of Others by Óskar Jónasson (10,891 admissions).

Fifteen Icelandic films premiered in 2016, against 13 in 2015. The total number of new films on screens remained stable at 179.

The US superhero film Suicide Squad was the second biggest film of the year, followed by Rogue One-A Star Wars Story, partly shot in Iceland.

The biggest Nordic (non-national) film of 2016 was the Oscar-nominated A Man Called Ove, with 8,496 admissions and ISK 10,003,238 gross revenue.

The most popular documentary was Inside a Volcano-the Rise of Icelandic football (Jökullinn Logar) by Sævar Guðmundsson about the remarkable national football team from their childhood until their Euro 2016 qualification.

Cinema-going as a whole remains extremely popular, and with 4.27 cinema visits a year Icelanders are the most avid cinema-goers in the world. In 2016, general admissions increased for the second consecutive year, by 2.74% in 2016 to reach 1,420,435.

Looking ahead, Hallgrimur Kristinsson, Head of FRISK stressed the good word of mouth and theatrical run of Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson’s Heartstone, currently number two at the local BO after La La Land, for the second consecutive weekend (as of January 29, 2017).

The next domestic release is Snjór og Salóme by Sigurður Anton (March 17), followed by the thriller I Remember You directed by Óskar Thór Axelsson (April 7).“The film is likely to do well and is much anticipated as it is based on a famous book by author Yrsa Sigurðardóttir,” said Kristinsson.