Box office revenue in Iceland climbed 1.2% on 2011 but admissions took a dip. Skyfall topped the charts while Black’s Game proved the most popular domestic title.

Icelandic features including Baltasar Kormákur’s The Deep and Óskar Thór Axelsson’s Black’s Game helped domestic films secure a 10.5% share of the box office in 2012.

But admissions dropped to 1.4 million, 4.3% down on the previous year, according to statistics released by the Icelandic Film Centre.  

Black’s Game, about the transition from small time to organized crime in Iceland in 1990s, topped the domestic chart with 62,783 admissions.

The Deep, the true story of how one man survived when a fishing boat sunk off the Icelandic coast, sold 49,698 tickets. Director Kormákur can add a further  29,680 for his Hollywood-produced Contraband, a Working Title-Universal remake of the Icelandic 2008 feature (in which he starred).

T Tjörvi Thórsson, project coordinator at the Icelandic Film Centre, said: “Admissions were down but gross box office receipts went up by 2.7%, to $8.11 million (ISK 1,515,110,814).”

Among 164 releases, Intouchables, from French directors Olivier Nakache-Eric Toledano’s, took 64,735 admissions to become the most popular non English-language film released in Iceland to date.

Iceland has a population of 320,000.

Top Ten, 2012

1 Skyfall
Dir: Sam Mendes (UK, US). Local distr: Myndform – 79,483 admissions

2 Intouchables
Dirs: Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano (France). Local distr: Sena – 64,735 adms

3 The Dark Knight Rises
Dir: Christopher Nolan (US). Local distr: Samfilm – 63,682 adms

4 Black’s Game (Svartur á Leik)
Dir: Óskar Thór Axelsson (Iceland). Local distr: Sena  - 62,783 adms

5 The Avengers
Dir: Joss Whedon (US) Local distr: Samfilm – 52,174 adms

6 The Deep (Djúpid)
Dir: Baltasar Kormákur (Iceland). Local distr: Sena – 49,698 adms

7 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Dir: Peter Jackson (US). Local distr: Myndform – 35,081 adms

8 The Hunger Games
Dir: Gary Ross (US). Local dist: Myndform – 33,272 adms

9 Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted
Dirs: Eric Darell, Tom McGrath (IS). Local distr: Samfilm – 32,805 admis

10 The Amazing Spider-Man
Dir: Marc Webb (US). Local distr: Sena – 26,782 adms

Topics