Norway is rapidly becoming a hub for disaster movies, it seems.
On Day 1 of Berlin’s all-virtual European Film Market (EFM), being held in conjunction with the 71st Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), sales agent TrustNordisk garnered early sales for the most recent film by the Fantefilm studio, The North Sea (Nordsjøen), producer of previous hit disaster movies The Quake (2018) and The Wave (2015).
Although the film has not yet been sold for North/South American or Asian distribution, the script and teaser trailer were enough to sell the film to German-speaking areas (Koch Films), France (Mediawan), Benelux (Just Licensing), Italy (Minerva Pictures Group), Spain (Mediaset Espana), Russian and Baltic areas (VLG.FILM), and Latin America (California Filmes).
“We are excited with the great start and are certain that there will be more to come on a disaster film even more spectacular than the two previous films from the same creators,” said TrustNordisk managing director Susan Wendt about the early sales of the film.
The North Sea appears to be a Norwegian Deepwater Horizon scenario, being set on an offshore oil drilling platform, with the added complication that Norway relies on oil for most of its wealth.
Both The Wave and The Quake were successes—with worldwide grosses of $12M and $13M against estimated budgets of $7M and $6M, respectively—and were sold worldwide, with Magnolia Pictures distributing both of them in the U.S. Another Norwegian disaster movie, The Tunnel (2019), also grossed nearly $3M on a budget of just over $400K. The North Sea’s budget is an estimated $7.9M.
The new film is being directed by John Andreas Andersen (The Quake) from a script by Harald Rosenlow Eeg (The Quake, The Wave) and Lars Gudmestad (Jo Nesbø’s Headhunters). The film stars Kristine Kujath Thorp (Ninjababy), Rolf Kristian Larsen (Home Ground), Anders Baasmo (Kon Tiki), Bjorn Floberg (Kingsman: The Secret Service), and Anneke von der Lippe (Eyewitness). Fantefilm producers include Martin Sundland, Catrin Gundersen, and Therese Bohn with support from Norwegian Film Institute.
The North Sea is currently in postproduction and is set for a fall release in Norway through Nordisk Film. No word yet on release dates for other countries.
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