Finland (Oct 2013) - german films

Market Study 

FINLAND 

by Split Screen Data Ltd. 

for German Films October 2013

FINLAND 

Language Finnish, Swedish, Sami 

Location Finland is situated in the Fennoscandian 

region of Northern europe and bordered by 

Sweden to the west, Norway to the north 

and russia to the east, while estonia lies to 

its south across the Gulf of Finland. 

Population 5,434,357 

Capital Helsinki (pop 605,523) 

Major cities espoo (pop 257,461), tampere (pop 217,767), 

Vantaa (205,653) 

Land surface 337,030 square kilometres 

Time zone eet (GMt +2) 

Internet domain .fi 

IDD +358 

Currency euro 

GDP 

€196.5 billionn 

Unemployment 7.8% 

G E N E R A L C I N E M A S TAT I S T I C S 

2010 2011 2012 

Cinemas 172 172 162 

Screens 294 283 280 

Digital screens 93 210 265 

3D-capable screens 87 200 250 

Overall capacity 49,607 49,872 49,000 

Admissions (in millions) 7.5 7.1 8.5 

Per capita attendance 1.4 1.3 1.6 

3D admissions 1,432,199 1,917,000 1,732,828 

Average ticket price (in euros) €8.7 €9.0 €8.9 

Active theatrical distributors 14 14 13 

R E L E A S E S 

Total 181 189 179 

Finnish 21 29 36 

US 105 98 90 

German (100% or majority co-prods) 5 7 2 

German minority co-prods 12 5 10 

Other Nordic 13 10 10 

Other European 32 33 27 

Other 5 12 4 

Classification is by main producing country. as a result, there is an inevitable overlap between German minority co-productions and other categories. 

B O X O F F I C E (in euros) 

Total (millions) 66 64.8 78.8 

Finnish films (millions} 9.6 9.6 21.1 

German 100% or majority co-prods 381,127 674,972 222,687 

German 100% or majority co-prods as % 0.66 1.04 0.28 

German minority co-prods 885,438 1,449,682 556,936 

German minority co-prods as % 1.5 2.2 0.71 

2 GerMaN FilMS – Market Study FINLAND

RELEASE DETAILS 

TITLE 

2 0 1 0 T O P 1 0 

DISTRIBUTOR 

RELEASE 

DATE 

ADMISSIONS 

NaPaPiiriN SaNkarit (FiN) 

Sex aNd tHe City 2 (uS) 

riStO räPPääjä ja POlkuPyöräVaraS (FiN) 

aliCe iN WONderlaNd (uS) 

Harry POtter aNd tHe deatHly HallOWS: Part 1 (uS/uk) 

*aVatar (uS) 

PriNSeSSa (FiN) 

iNCePtiON (uS/uk) 

*HaVukka-aHON OlOHuONe (FiN) 

tOy StOry 3 (uS) 

* released in previous year(s) 

Sandrew Metronome distribution Finland 


Nordisk Film 

Walt disney Studios Motion Pictures Finland 


FS Film 



Nordisk Film 


15.10.10 

02.06.10 

12.02.10 

12.03.10 

17.11.10 

18.12.09 

10.09.10 

23.07.10 

25.12.09 

27.08.10 

334,943 

328,286 

325,484 

304,844 

292,991 

287,767 

279,698 

253,098 

215,965 

213,609 

2 0 1 0 G E R M A N F I L M S (100% or majority co-productions in red) 

reSideNt eVil: aFterliFe (uS/Ger/uk) 

WüSteNBluMe (Ger/at) 

tHe GHOSt (Fr/Ger/uk) 

Mr. NOBOdy (Fr/Bel/CaN/Ger) 

SNaBBa CaSH (SWe/deN/Ger) 

det eNda ratiONella (SWe/Fr/Ger/it) 

daS SaNdMäNNCHeN – aBeNteur iM trauMlaNd (Ger) 

daS WeiSSe BaNd (Ger/at/Fr/it) 

SOul kitCHeN (Ger) 

eNter tHe VOid (Fr/Ger/it) 

*eartH (uk/uS/Ger) 

*SkaVaBöleN POjat (FiN/Ger) 

tHe laSt StatiON (Ger/ruS) 

NiNja aSSaSSiN (uS/Ger) 

la raFle (Fr/Ger) 

FreetiMe MaCHOS (FiN/Ger) 

tOurNée (Fr/Ger) 

HjeM til jul (NOr/Ger) 

OrNjäGereNS SON (SWe/Ger) 

* released in previous year(s) 


Future Film 

FS Film 

Cinema Mondo 

Bio rex 

Cinema Mondo 

Finnkino 

Future Film 

Future Film 

Cinema Mondo 

Future Film 

FS Film 



Cinema Mondo 

klaffi tuotannot 

Cinema Mondo 


kinoscreen illusion 

17.09.10 

01.04.10 

09.04.10 

01.10.10 

01.04.10 

29.10.10 

17.12.10 

12.03.10 

27.08.10 

03.09.10 

11.12.09 

04.09.09 

01.04.10 

08.01.10 

19.11.10 

12.03.10 

19.03.10 

17.12.10 

19.02.10 

34,388 

28,360 

26,118 

19,636 

13,798 

7,417 

5,979 

4,995 

4,112 

3,918 

3,525 

3,104 

2,965 

2,644 

2,197 

1,911 

1,405 

1,016 

202 

GerMaN FilMS – Market Study FINLAND 3

2 0 1 1 T O P 1 0 

Harry POtter aNd tHe deatHly HallOWS: Part 2 (uk/uS) 

PirateS OF tHe CariBBeaN: ON StraNGer tideS (uS) 

jOHNNy eNGliSH reBOrN (uk) 

CarS 2 (uS) 

VareS – PaHaN SuudelMa (FiN) 

tHe kiNG’S SPeeCH (uk/auS) 

tHe tWiliGHt SaGa: BreakiNG daWN – Part 1 (uS) 

BlaCk SWaN (uS) 

taNGled (uS) 

riO (uS) 

FS Film 


Finnkino 


Nordisk Film 

FS Film 

Nordisk Film 

FS Film 


FS Film 

13.07.11 

18.05.11 

14.10.11 

12.08.11 

06.01.11 

21.01.11 

18.11.11 

04.03.11 

11.02.11 

15.04.11 

386,520 

359,463 

276,581 

253,654 

203,695 

194,763 

183,163 

169,994 

168,700 

154,039 


le HaVre (FiN/Fr/Ger) 

tHe tHree MuSketeerS (Ger/Fr/uk/uS) 

MelaNCHOlia (deN/SWe/Fr/Ger) 

kONFereNZ der tiere (Ger) 

HaNNa (uS/uk/Ger) 

PiNa (Ger/Fr) 

HOdejeGerNe (NOr/deN/Ger) 

MaMa aFriCa (Ger/Sa/FiN) 

uNkNOWN (uS/Ger/uk/Fr) 

liFe, aBOVe all (Ger/Sa) 

Wer WeNN NiCHt Wir (Ger) 

drei (Ger) 

Future Film 

FS Film 

Nordisk Film 

FS Film 


Bio rex distribution 

Nordisk Film 

FS Film 

FS Film 

atlantic Film 

atlantic Film 

Future Film distribution 

09.09.11 

21.10.11 

17.06.11 

01.07.11 

03.06.11 

23.09.11 

30.09.11 

23.08.11 

17.06.11 

19.08.11 

07.10.11 

02.09.11 

116,719 

31,949 

21,825 

14,802 

12,164 

10,427 

9,894 

8,509 

8,484 

3,489 

927 

529 

2 0 1 2 T O P 1 0 

SkyFall (uS/uk) 

tHe HOBBit: aN uNexPeCted jOurNey (uS/NZ) 

iCe aGe: CONtiNeNtal driFt (uS) 

riStO räPPääjä ja Viileä VeNla (FiN) 

MadaGaSCar 3: eurOPe’S MOSt WaNted (uS) 

tHe dark kNiGHt riSeS (uS/uk) 

tie POHjOiSeeN (FiN) 

PuHdiStuS (FiN/eSt) 

tHe tWiliGHt SaGa: BreakiNG daWN – Part 2 (uS) 

tHe HuNGer GaMeS (uS) 

FS Film 

FS Film 

FS Film 

Nordisk Film 

Finnkino 

FS Film 

FS Film 

Nordisk Film 

Nordisk Film 

Nordisk Film 

26.10.12 

12.12.12 

29.06.12 

10.02.12 

03.08.12 

20.07.12 

24.08.12 

07.09.12 

16.11.12 

23.03.12 

615,854 

308,261 

316,627 

308,757 

308,428 

288,996 

264,830 

208,420 

206,434 

196,151 



irON Sky (FiN/Ger/auS) 

NikO 2 – leNtäjäVeljekSet (FiN/deN/ire/Ger) 

VuOSaari (FiN/Ger) 

tiNker tailOr SOldier SPy (uk/Fr/Ger) 

a daNGerOuS MetHOd (Ger/CaN/uk/SWZ) 

CarNaGe (Fr/Ger/POl) 

2 dayS iN NeW yOrk (Fr/Ger/Bel) 

deN Skaldede FriSØr (deN/Fr/it/SWe/Ger) 

BarBara (Ger) 

SNaBBa CaSH ii (SWe/deN/Ger) 

NOBelS teStaMeNte (SWe/Ger) 

FauSt (ruS/Ger) 


Nordisk Film 


FS Film 

Scanbox 


Cinema Mondo 

atlantic Film 


Bio rex distribution 

Nordisk Film 

atlantic Film 

04.04.12 

12.10.12 

03.02.12 

24.02.12 

13.04.12 

10.02.12 

09.11.12 

07.12.12 

17.08.12 

14.09.12 

09.03.12 

23.11.12 

181,327 

150,899 

95,910 

29,880 

18,588 

10,914 

7,532 

6,662 

5,823 

4,519 

3,329 

213 

S A L E S A G E N T S F O R G E R M A N F I L M S R E L E A S E D I N F I N L A N D 

auF der aNdereN Seite 

der Baader MeiNHOF kOMPlex 

BarBara 

a daNGerOuS MetHOd 

drei 

kONFereNZ der tiere 

tHe laSt StatiON 

liFe, aBOVe all 

MaMa aFriCa 

daS SaNdMäNNCHeN – aBeNteur iM trauMlaNd 

PiNa 

SOul kitCHeN 

tHe tHree MuSketeerS 

daS WeiSSe BaNd 

Wer WeNN NiCHt Wir 

WüSteNBluMe 

the Match Factory 

Summit entertainment 


HanWay Films 


timeless Films 

the little Film Company 

Global Screen 

Fortissimo Film Sales 

Bac Films 

HanWay Films 


Summit entertainment 

les Films du losange 




T E L E V I S I O N A N D V I D E O 

apart from a surprisingly high percentage of Finns having (or claiming to have) no tV set, the television ownership patterns in Finland appear fairly close to the european standard. television 

view ership figures suggest that state broadcaster yle's four channels still account for the lion's share of the market, with MtV (two channels, including one pay-tV channel) in a strong second 

place and Nelonen Media's four private channels (again including one pay-tV channel) some way behind. 

MARKET SHARE PER CHANNEL 2010 2011 2012 

YLE (all) 41.1 42.2 38.0 

MTV 21.6 21.8 20.0 

Nelonen (all) 9.3 9.2 9.0 

Others 28.0 26.8 33.0 

AVAILABLE CHANNELS 

Adult 12 

Children 12 

News 20 

Local 43 

Lifestyle 3 

Music 13 

Film 27 

Sport 30 

Other 125 

Total 285 

in terms of audience numbers, domestic films perform especially well, with five Finnish films in the annual top 10 as published by the Finnish Film Foundation – notable, since they do not seem 

to dominate the weekly schedules (see below). 

S n a p s h o t 1 : Sources of films on Finnish tV: one week's programming on Finland’s two main tV channels in august 2013 

YLE MTV Total 

US 5 44 49 

UK 1 10 11 

Finland 7 0 7 

Sweden 1 4 5 

France 1 2 3 

Other 1 6 7 

Total 16 66 82 


Channels monitored: all channels of state broadcaster yle (yle tV1, yle tV2, yle teema amd yle Hd), plus private channels MtV3 and Nelonen. the above totals do not include repeat screenings. 

No German films were screened. 

S n a p s h o t 2 : Sources of films on Finnish tV: one week's programming on pay-tV film channel Nelonen kino* 

US 22 

UK 6 

Other 6 

Total 34 

*Week 5-11 august 2013. the above does not include repeat screenings. the one German title programmed was the english-language BlaCk deatH. 

Precise viewing figures are readily available only for the top-performing titles. these more or less mirror the theatrical market, with local titles. 

On the pay-tV front, CMore entertainment, which bought out French owners Canal+ but retained the brand name, offers a service available with different subtitles in all four main Nordic territories. 

in Finland, its Finnish movie channel, Canal+ elokuvat, offers just under 400 titles and is dominated by films from Hollywood and Sweden, with a great many Swedish tV series or tV movies (like, 

for example, the BeCk series) bulking out the latter's total. Between them, Sweden and the uS account for around 85% of titles available. the only German title currently on the roster seems to 

be one of the PriNZeSSiN lilliFee series. 

D V D 

2009 2010 2011 

Number of DVD households (millions) 1.4 1.4 1.4 

Number of Blu-ray households 40,000 70,000 160,000 

Retail DVD units sold (in millions of euros) 97.7 109.4 98.6 

Retail Blu-ray units sold (in millions of euros) 5.6 10.5 19.7 

DVD rental transactions (in millions of euros) 27.2 25.5 22.9 

Blu-ray rental transactions (in euros) 260,000 660,000 800,000 

Average DVD price (in euros) 10.45 10.27 9.78 

Average Blu-ray price (in euros) 22.50 21.06 20.51 

as with television, dVd business patterns in Finland seem to be close to the european mean. From the vantage point of 2009, sales figures for both dVd and Blu-ray in the territory are vastly 

larger than those for rental (as long ago as 2009, the latter accounted for less than 5% of the market). Blu-ray sales are increasing steadily but far from exponentially; and sales as a whole remain 

steady, with overall (dVd and Blu-ray) revenue rising by 15.5% between 2009 and 2010, then falling back slightly in 2011 as a result of a downward trend in prices. according to the international 

Video Federation, the contraction in the video market has been less marked in the Nordic countries than elsewhere in europe. 

there is no statistical information on the country of origin of the dVd and Blu-ray titles for sale or rental in Finland, but a detailed examination of the catalogue of one major video renter and 

retailer (Filmclub) reveals that, of the 900-odd titles on offer, 26 (3%) are German. this total is, however, largely made up of classic 'New German Cinema' titles (15 out of the 26), with 10 of those 

represented by the 'Wim Wenders Collection' alone. the evidence suggested by more recent films on Filmclub's books is not merely that an afterlife on dVd is only possible for a German film in 

Finland if it has previously achieved theatrical distribution (generally as a result of having been selected for a major film festival), but also that there is a further winnowing out of theatrical titles 

between cinema and home entertainment. 


G E N E R A L N O T E S 

Finland is a very small market with a correspondingly strong cultural commitment by the Finnish government to ensuring that films in the Finnish language – which sits apart from most of those 

in europe – are offered to local audiences. this means that local production is heavily subsidised. But the chance to hear the local language spoken on screen also results in local films sometimes 

finding their way into the annual top 10 (one each in 2009 and 2011, three in 2012 and four in 2010). 

With admissions of only six or seven million and around 180 releases a year (60% of them uS), it is not an easy market for films from other european countries to penetrate. in 2009, only three 

German productions or co-productions were released in the territory. 2010 was somewhat better, with two festival favourites, one english-language arthouse film, one children's film and one 

German co-production with commercial aspirations (WüSteNBluMe) reaching the screen. the pattern was repeated in 2011, with two relatively commercial films performing more or less to 

expectations, two documentaries selling 8,000-10,000 tickets each and a trio of crossover titles doing disappointing business. 2012 saw only the english-language a daNGerOuS MetHOd and 

Berlinale favourite BarBara released, the latter selling under 6,000 tickets. By far the best performer among German films and minority co-productions over the three-year period surveyed is 

le HaVre, a Finnish/French/German co-production directed by aki kaurismäki (whose films do not usually do especially well in Finland) ending up not far outside the year’s top 10. 

the evidence of the last five years is fairly clear, however: the only 100% German productions likely to be acquired for theatrical distribution in Finland are those which arrive by way of the festival 

circuit (as did daS WeiSSe BaNd, SOul kitCHeN, PiNa and BarBara), with occasional openings for english-language crossover movies like WüSteNBluMe (released, as in most other 

european territories, in its english-language version under the title deSert FlOWer) and tHe tHree MuSketeerS, which notched up just under and just over 30,000 admissions respectively. 

Sources: tilastokekskus Statistikcentral (Statistics Finland), elokuvavuosi 2012 Facts Figures, World Bank, tradingeconomics.com, european audiovisual Observatory, Suomen elokuvasäätiö (Finnish Film Foundation), Filmikamari (Finnish Chamber 

of Films, with special thanks to tero koistinen), elonet (Finnish National audiovisual archive), Filmclub.fi, www.voddler.com, Canal+ elokuvat, Split Screen data ltd. Picture credits page 1 and 2: tuBS europe on the globe/wikimedia

Finland (Oct 2013) - german films

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