The Last Viking

Source: Venice Film Festival

‘The Last Viking’

Local films are on track to record a strong market share at the Danish box office in 2025, currently tracking at 40% - the highest share in a regular cinema year since records began in 1980.

The 40% share is up from 24% last year, and is only beaten by the 50% share in 2020 and 42% in 2021, when the pandemic warped box office and release schedules.

The next-closest figures to this year’s 40% were 32%, recorded in both 2005 and 2008. The overall figure is likely drop slightly by the end of the year due to the release of Disney’s Avatar: Fire And Ash in Denmark on December 17, but will still end above all years bar 2020 and 2021.

The 40% market share for Danish films is well above the local share in neighbouring Sweden, at around 9%, and even above France, which typically has Europe’s highest local market share and is currently at 35%.

With two weeks of the year remaining, 3.7m tickets have been sold for Danish films – a 68% increase on last year. Overall ticket sales have also increased by 3%.

32 Danish feature films have been released in the territory – the highest number ever, on a par with 2005. As of Monday, December 15, six of the most-watched films in Danish cinemas this year are Danish productions.

Successful titles

Local successes in Denmark this year have included family animation Checkered Ninja 3, which scored the third-largest opening weekend in Danish box office history, selling over 200,000 tickets and over 700,000 across its run.

Danish stalwart Anders Thomas Jensen also recorded his best-selling film to date in his homeland with The Last Viking starring Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Lie Kaas, also topping 700,000 in ticket sales.

The Venice out of competition title was one of several festival films to find an audience this year, alongside Magnus von Horn’s Cannes 2024 Competition title The Girl With The Needle with 236,000 tickets sold; and Frelle Petersen’s Berlin 2025 Panorama entry Home Sweet Home with 190,000 tickets sold.

Danish family films have also shown a resurgence this year, with 11 such titles released – up from three each in 2023 and 2024. Family films recorded 1.2m ticket sales – the strongest year since 2018. Exhibitors will hope that trend continues into 2026, with early-year releases of Danish family titles Curly Burly and When Mumbo Jumbo Grew Giant.

“2025 shows what Danish film can achieve when talent, ambition and strong cultural policy support for Danish cinema align,” said Tine Fischer, director of the Danish Film Institute. “The historically high market share reflects an audience that shows both trust in and curiosity about the originality of Danish storytelling, and a film industry that is recovering after years of difficult financing challenges.

“With an ambitious Danish film policy, there is now a foundation to secure Danish film’s position as the national focal point for the major stories that resonate widely, as well as for new talents who challenge us and raise questions. With humour, courage and artistic risk-taking, 2025 has delivered relevant and innovative stories that have appealed to cinema audiences across the country and across all age groups.”

2025 also saw the launch of a new Dogma filmmaking manifesto at Cannes, titled Dogma 25. Five Danish filmmakers are making low-budget features through the manifesto, with the movement backed by Danish companies Zentropa, Nordisk Film Distribution, broadcaster DR and the Danish Film Institute.

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