Nordisk Film Cinemas closing in on record breaking year

2015 has been a great year for Nordisk Film Cinemas so far. The Egmont owned chain has sold 400.000 additional tickets compared to last year, and now it seems that a 34 year old record will be broken by the end of the year.

During the first half of 2015 Nordisk Film Cinemas and the rest of the cinema business in Denmark has sold​ a combined seven million tickets. Forecasts indicate that they will sell more than fifteen million tickets in 2015.

In that case it will be a record breaking year with a ticket sale not seen as great since 1981. The historically impressive estimated number of cinema viewers is partly due to great movie titles such as Skammerens Datter, 9. april, Klovn 2, Fifty Shades of Grey and James Bond.

Netflix og HBO does not send cinemas into despair

Streaming services such as Netflix and HBO have not impacted Danish cinemas as much as most market analytics and experts suggested during the past years, as the cinemas are well visited.

The general manager of Nordisk Film, John Tønnes, explains why the theater experience is not comparable to the streaming services.

"A movie is not just a movie. That's why we don't see Netflix and HBO as direct competitors. They're actors in a different market. Yes, cinemas change over time, but they still have the same fundamental experience in the dark. The audience laughs, cries and shudders together. It's a social experience - and on the other hand is the home experience," he says to the newspaper Jyllands Posten.

Small cinemas on the rise too

The cinema business is increasingly popular in Denmark, and that benefits everyone in the business. A number of smaller cinemas has increased their ticket-sales by far, and some have even had their best year ever, reports DR Østjylland that has talked to a group of smaller cinemas about their half-year result.

The smaller cinemas also credit the great Danish movies for their increased popularity. For some cinemas the increased revenue produced by tickets will be used for upgrades such as sound systems, digitalized pictures, laser projection, 3 and 4D-effects and better seatings.

Read more about Nordisk Film Biografer's newest cinema at Field's which opens 13'th of August.