Simpsons Movie was most-watched film in Finland in 2007

Joulutarina did best of domestic releases, as aggregate cinema attendances fell slightly

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The biggest box office success at Finnish movie theatres in 2007 was The Simpsons Movie.
      More than 400,000 saw the first big-screen adaptation of the long-running and hugely popular TV cartoon series.
      Cinema attendances slipped by around 2% on the year, relative to 2006.
      A total of 1.3 million people went to see domestic movie releases, or around 20 per cent of the aggregate attendance figure.
     
The biggest draw among Finnish productions was Juha Wuolijoki’s Joulutarina ("Christmas Story"), which had been seen at year’s end by around 240,000 people.
      The biggest international splash created by a Finnish-made film came with Aleksi Salmenperä’s Miehen työ (A Man’s Work).
      This was screened at nearly 40 international film festivals during the year and also picked up several prizes, in Spain, Germany, Switzerland, and Morocco.
      The film, which explores male prostitution as a means of overcoming the shock of redundancy, was also chosen as Finland’s nominee for February’s Oscars, in the foreign film category.
     
This year there will be at least 11 new domestic feature films coming to Finnish cinemas.
      This is in spite of a lengthy production shutdown, lasting around two months, that was declared by Finnish film producers in the autumn, in protest against what was seen as inadequate government funding for the branch.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 8.1.2008


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Producers put stop to movie production (4.9.2007)
  EDITORIAL: Hard modern times for Helsinki film-freaks (1.8.2007)

Links:
  Finnkino ((Finland´s largest cinema chain)
  Finnish Film Foundation
  Joulutarina (IMDB)
  Miehen työ (IMDB)

Helsingin Sanomat