The three films received production and distribution support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Petri Kemppinen, CEO at the Fund said: “Quite a mix of Nordic films are crossing borders these days. The strong Swedish opening of The Unknown Soldier by Aku Louhimies has encouraged SF Studios to release it in Norway and Denmark as well. Ruben Östlund´s award-winning The Square seems to create a response also among younger cinemagoers with its themes and episodic form, and Solsidan, a comic portrayal of Swedish upper middle class, has been a popular TV brand, so it’s no big surprise that the more dramedy theatrical spin off performs well in Norwegian and Finnish cinemas.”

Released on December 6 by SF Studios in Sweden, The Unknown Soldier sold more than 20,000 tickets from 100 screens, making it the biggest Finnish film in Sweden in more than a decade. "It's amazing that the film has received a warm welcome in Sweden, of which almost 2,000 volunteers came to fight for our country's independence. I was honoured to meet these veterans a couple of weeks ago in Stockholm and conversations with them means a lot to me. It was amazing to hear how the movie managed to talk to our brothers on the other side of the bay”, said Louhimies.

Finnish-born Antti Toiviainen, SF Studios’s Chief Sales & Distribution Officer stressed to nordicfilmandtvnews.com that The Unknown Soldier is the first Finnish film that SF Studios distributes in Sweden in its 98-year history. ”There has been a real team work on all fronts, and this is just great beginning”, he said. “A quality film with a record-breaking opening result will support us to attract even wider audiences in Sweden with a target of above 100,000 admissions.”

On home turf, The Unknown Soldier continues to climb to record highs and after seven weeks on screens, it is still number one with nearly 840,000 admissions from 113 screens.

SF Studios’ other release Solsidan-the Movie rules as well on the domestic market, and is now the biggest local film of the year in Sweden. In its second weekend, the film has sold a total of 418,488 tickets from 212 screens, with an admission per screen average three times higher than the number 2 film Murder on the Orient Express. In Finland Felix Herngren’s comedy had 6,264 admissions from previews only, last weekend, and entered the Top 10 at number 4.

In Norway, Solsidan which opened at number 1, was pushed down to number 3 last weekend by the new openers Paddington 2 (29,589 admissions for SF Studios), and the top selling film of the weekend Adjø Montebello, an experimental concert film by Norwegian director Thea Hvistendal about Norwegian rap group Karpe Diem which sold nearly 50,000 tickets from 132 screens for Euforia Film.

Solsidan added nearly 20,000 admissions from 136 Norwegian screens and reached a final tally of 46,350 in its second weekend.

Meanwhile the Danish release of the Swedish Palme d’or winning film The Square climbed from number 6 to 4 last weekend. Released by Scanbox three weeks ago, the film has passed 40,000 admissions.

In other Nordic territories The Square has 166,437 admissions in Sweden, 22,769 in Norway and in Finland 6,466 admissions after 4 weeks.

A fourth Nordic film – the Finnish animated film Moomins and the Winter Wonderland –  is doing better on a transnational level than domestically.

Released simultaneously in Sweden and in Finland on December 1st, the film has attracted 14,079 Swedes, against 9,752 people in the Moomins’ homeland. And after three weeks on screens in Denmark and Norway, the film had 6,050 and 12,424 admissions respectively.