The veteran Danish producer has signed a first look multi-year deal with the US streaming giant to produce Nordic films in the local language.

The news was first announced in Variety. The well-known Danish executive, former Nordisk Film CEO and co-founder of M&M Productions, has more than 120 films and TV series to his credit as producer or exec producer such as Anders Thomas Jensen’s Men & Chicken (2015) and Oscar-winning short film Election Night (1999). Magnusson won another Oscar-Short Live Action Film in 2014 with Anders Walter’s Helium, and was Oscar-nominated several times, most recently with Aske Bang’s Silent Nights (2017). His latest production is the animated film Up and Away by Karsten Kiilerich, currently on Danish screens.

Netflix’s head of content acquisition Ian Bricke said Magnusson has “incredibly strong relationships with talent in Scandinavia and a proven track record of producing high-quality films. Scandinavia has a strong pedigree in storytelling, and we’re excited that Kim is on board to help discover and produce great local projects for our global audience.”

Magnusson has started scouting Nordic talent and projects and intends to team up with local co-producers (see our separate interview: CLICK HERE) to create Nordic films in local language for Netflix’s global streaming service.

This is the first feature film deal of its kind with Netflix in the Nordic region, although the streaming service has already strong ties in the region through TV drama co-productions (Rita, Lilyhammer), numerous acquisitions or fully financed Original series. The youth-oriented Danish show The Rain produced by Miso Film was launched earlier this month, and Sweden’s first Netflix Original series Quicksand produced by FLX will start production this year.

As part of its drive to include more European films and TV series on its streaming platform, Netflix announced last month its plan to invest about $1 billion on original European productions this year, and its commitment to ten new European projects, including its first Italian original feature film - Forgive Us our Debts.

Netflix is the leading SVOD player in the Nordics, with an estimated 4.2 million subscribers, (up 27% from 2016), and a 58% market share, against 24% for Viaplay and 18% for HBO Nordic, according to Kagan Media.

Magnusson’s first look film deal with Netflix comes at a time when European policy makers and public institutions (including the Danish Film Institute) are trying to find ways to get streaming services to contribute to the national subsidy system.