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MARKET Sweden

After 1.6 million admissions in Sweden, A Man Called Ove sells to the US

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- Hannes Holm’s award-winning feature has been picked up by Music Box Films, which also released The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared in America

After 1.6 million admissions in Sweden, A Man Called Ove sells to the US
A Man Called Ove by Hannes Holm

Swedish director Hannes Holm’s A Man Called Ove [+see also:
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film profile
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, which won three national Guldbagge awards and has now exceeded 1.6 million domestic admissions, thus becoming the fifth best-selling local feature to date, has been picked up for North American distribution by Music Box Films, which is planning a third-quarter 2016 release.

The Chicago-based distributor also launched Swedish director Felix Herngren’s The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
in America – the seventh most popular Swedish film domestically of all time. “Music Box Films did an amazing job on The Hundred-Year-Old Man… – and we are confident that they will bring A Man Called Ove to an even higher level,” said Susan Wendt, sales director at Danish international sales agent TrustNordisk.

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“Ove is a character you can relate to instantly: he is akin to Warren Schmidt in About Schmidt, Carl Fredricksen in Up and Walt Kowalski in Gran Torino. He is the proverbial angry old man next door, but one with an unexpected capacity for growth and empathy,” added Edward Arentz, managing director of Music Box.

Adapted from Swedish author Fredrik Backman’s bestseller, which has been published in 30 countries, A Man Called Ove follows a grumpy old man (played by Rolf Lassgård) who has given up on everyone, including himself, until his negative approach is put to the test by a new family who move in next door. Produced by Annica Bellander and Nicklas Wikström for Sweden’s Tre Vänner, with Swedish regional film centre Film Väst, Swedish pubcaster SVT, Nordisk Film and Fantefilm, the film’s three Guldbagges included Best Actor (Lassgård) and the Audience Award.

At Berlin’s European Film Market, TrustNordisk also sold the film toJapan (Medallion Media), France (Paradis Films), Spain (Savor), Greece (Videorama), Taiwan (Swallow Wings) and Lithuania (Scanorama), adding to the previously closed deals with Germany/Austria (Concorde), Benelux (September Film), Switzerland (Praesens-Film), Hungary (Vertigo Media), Estonia (Estin Film) and Korea (Sidus).

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