Danish box office records 30-year high

The year ended with a boost from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which was released on Dec 12 and sold 423,000 tickets in 16 days.

It helped Danish cinemas total 14.2 million admissions for the year – the country’s highest figures since 1982.

James Bond’s latest mission, Skyfall, also contributed to the record figure.

Sune Lind Thomsen, head of distribution at SF Film (which also released The Hobbit), said: “We wanted to beat the legendary record for a James Bond movie set by Octopussy, which reached an audience of 707,000 in 1983, and become the best 2012 performer in the Danish theatres. Exceeding 900,000 admissions, we succeeded in both.”

Michael Fleischer, chairman of the Danish Distributors’ Association (FAFID), highlighted two local crowd-pleasers: Anne-Grethe Bjarup Riis’s This Life, from Regner Grasten Film, and Susanne Bier’s Love Is All You Need, from Zentropa Entertainments.

In total, the 21 Danish productions released in 2012 drew 3.9 million cinema-goers and approximately 27% of the market (as in 2011).

It was also “another good year for Danish films on the international scene,” according to the Danish Film Institute, which listed a harvest of 82 prizes from 272 festival participations.

These include three in Cannes (for Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt/Jagten), two in Berlin (Nikolaj Arcel’s A Royal Affair) and two in Sundance (Mads Matthiesen’s Teddy Bear/10 timer til Paradis, Lise Birk Pedersen’s Putin’s Kiss/Putins kys).

Top Five (Denmark, 2012)

1. This Life (Hvidsten Gruppen: Nogen må dø for at andre kan leve)
   Dir: Anne-Grethe Bjarup Riis – 764,516 admissions
   
   
2. Love Is All You Need (Den skaldede frisør)
   Dir: Susanne Bier – 644,255 adms
   
   
3. A Royal Affair (En kongelig affære)
   Dir: Nikolaj Arcel – 528,425 adms
   
   
4. Father of Four – At Sea (Far til Fire – til søs)
   Dir: Claus Bjerre – 409,945 adms
   
   
5. My Sisters Kids Home Alone (Min søsters børn alene hjemme)
   Dir: Martin Miehe-Renard – 310,556 admissions