The Oscar hopeful from Scandinavia is a sumptuous 18th century costume drama with Mads Mikkelsen (left) as the Danish Voltaire who becomes advisor to the dim, dissolute king and lover to the queen (stunning Alicia Vikander, at right).
COLOGNE, Germany – Scandinavian movie goers continued to come out in droves in 2012, with ticket sales in the Danish market scoring the best result in 30 years. 14.2 million tickets were sold in the tiny Nordic nation (population 5.5 million) last year, just under a third of them (28 percent) going to local-language productions.
Anne-Grethe Bjarup Riis‘ Nazi-era war drama This Life was the most successful Danish production of 2012, earning some $9.4 million for UIP in the territory. It was followed by two Nordisk titles: Susanne Bier‘s romantic comedy Love is All You Need ($7.2 million) and Nikolaj Arcel‘s period drama A Royal Affair ($6.6 million), a contender for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. All three titles sold more than 500,000 tickets, the benchmark for a blockbuster in Denmark.
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It was a strong year for Danish films, with Claus Bjerre‘s Father of Four – At Sea grossing $4.9 million, My Sisters Kids Home Alone from director Martin Miehe-Renard earning $3.7 million and Marie Kroyer, a biopic from Oscar-winner Bille August, taking $2.8 million.
Hollywood productions, however, dominated the Danish box office, let by Sam Mendes‘ Skyfall, which earned $14.7 million in Denmark for SF Film, beating the long-standing record held by Octopussy (1983) to become the most successful Bond film ever in the territory. Other blockbuster success stories were The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which has earned around $10 million in Danish release for SF Film, and The Dark Knight Rises ($9.6 million for Warner Bros.).
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