Mis. Label and Star Media acquire Sweden's Noble Entertainment

Noble Entertainment, the Swedish distributor that has released more than 600 films since 2002, has been bought by Denmark’s Mis. Label and Norway’s Star Media Entertainment.

The pair had been Noble’s acquisition partners since 2007 and the three companies have bought rights together for titles such as The Expendables and Silver Linings Playbook.

“The purchase is meant to strengthen our alliance and maintain our position in the market,” said managing director René Sørensen, of Mis. Label and Noble Entertainment.

Including their Finnish associate, Future Film, they control 5% of the Nordic market.

Star Media was recently named distributor of the year at the 31^st Norwegian Video Festival in Oslo, where its Lilyhammer won best Norwegian TV series.

While Mis. Label was launched as a music distributor, the other companies started in video-dvd and have later added theatrical – “to cover all windows,” according to Sørensen – with a line-up mixing mainstream with arthouse and smaller genre films.

Upcoming releases include US directors Ron Howard’s Formula 1 actioner, Rush; David O Russell’s American Hustle with Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Chritian Bale; and Joel and Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis, which is in Competition at Cannes.

“To cover all windows”, members of the alliance recently started to distribute domestic fare, or to actively co-produce local films. Star Media was involved in Norwegian director Thomas Wangsmo’s Into the Dark.

According to Sørensen, Mis. Label has invested in Danish directors Morten BH’s feature debut with Paprika Steen in the lead, and Lasse Spang Olsen’s action-comedy, reuniting comedians Jacob Haugaard and Finn Nørbygaard on the screen.

A further three films are in development.