Nearly 500,000 Nordic cinemagoers have watched the Norwegian film

After Norway where the stop motion animated film has posted 428,305 admissions since Christmas 2016, Rasmus A. Sivertsen’s In the Forest of Huckybucky based on Thorbjørn Egner’s children’s book and songs is having a good run in the rest of the Nordics as well. 

In Denmark, Finland and Sweden, the film benefitted from a strong marketing campaign put together by SF Studios in close collaboration with the production house Qvisten Animation. Qvisten producer Eirik Smidesang Slåen told nordicfilmandtvnews.com: “We started the marketing very early in the production, with teaser posters, and press visits in our studio. We always knew we wanted to be deeply involved in the marketing process - on a more practical side because we would be doing most of the artwork in-house. But it was also important to separate us from other family films on the market, with nothing like the classic line-up of spin off products and also less commercial partners. You invest a lot when you choose to do something as time consuming as stop motion, but it also means you end up being very protective of the way the end result is handled and presented. We also had the vitality and love of the Egner brand itself to take care of, adapting a national treasure. “

Antti Toiviainen, Chief Nordic Sales and Distribution at SF Studios said: “Marketing and promotion was focused on cinema trailering, social media and paid media advertisement. We wanted to secure a strong campaign for the film and invested in both our internal resources and media spend to secure a solid placement. “ The original Norwegian poster and trailer were used with local adaptations in the rest of Scandinavia.

SF Studios invested in dubbed versions in Danish, Swedish and Finnish, using local celebrity voices such as Pilou Asbæk, Lars Mikkelsen and Swedish singer/comic Daniel Norberg. The distribution and dubbing in Denmark, Finland and Sweden were supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.

In the Forest of Huckybucky was launched on April 6 in Denmark, April 7 in Finland, Sweden and Iceland. SF Studios booked the film in all major cinema chains and independent exhibitors also asked to play it in their venues.

After two weeks on screens, the film has sold 29,205 tickets in Denmark from 95 screens and climbed from number 8 to 6. In Sweden it stayed at number 5 and increased its performance by 34% in its second weekend. Total admissions from 130 screens are at 20,648. In Finland where the audience is not as familiar with Thorbjørn Egner’s characters compared to Denmark and Sweden, the film had 4,623 admissions from 55 screens. In Iceland where the Norwegian author/songwriter is as well known as in Norway, last weekend the film entered the local Top 10 at number two, just under Fast & Furious 8 and posted 6,011 admissions from six screens for the distributor Myndform.

Commenting on the film’s performance across the Nordics, Toiviainen said: “We are extremely satisfied of the opening result and the fact that we decided a long time ago to try releasing the film in all Nordic territories, including Finland which was a bit more challenging due to low awareness of the HuckyBucky brand. The good result and experience of the whole project will benefit both Nordic producers, SF Studios, exhibitors and film audiences not only for HuckyBucky, but the other upcoming Nordic productions to be distributed in all Nordic countries.” Producer Eirik Smidesang Slåen added: We are very happy with the Nordic numbers so far and hope for a long run in local cinemas. It’s very satisfying to be able to do a proper Nordic release for a film done in such a classic beautiful format as stop motion. “

SF Studios International handles world sales and so far 37 countries have acquired the film.

The next major pan-Nordic release for SF Studios will be Janus Metz’ Borg/McEnroe.

Jenny Stjernströmer Björk, SF Studios’ Chief Content officer said: “All titles are screened by our local offices and we always want to thoroughly investigate the possibilities of doing a pan-Nordic distribution."

To see the trailer for In the Forest of Huckybucky CLICK HERE.