Mr. Bjarnfredarson vs. Avatar: Caesar Does Indeed Not Rule the Whole of Gaul

Author: Ásgrímur Sverrisson / Date: 01.7.10

It’s like straight out of Asterix: In 50 BC Julius Caesar has conquered Gaul, apart from a tiny village in the north. In early 2010 AD Avatar has conquered the international box office, apart from a tiny country in the north. Like Caesar’s army, Avatar is not to be messed with. Probably the most expensive movie ever made, with all the money present and counted for on the screen, it is nevertheless being whipped at the Icelandic box office by a $1.2 m local comedy called Mr. Bjarnfredarson.

It’s not like the Icelanders are averse to Avatar’s charm. The film opened on December 18th and yet managed to be the top film at the 2009 box office in Iceland, beating The Hangover by a narrow margin. It’s still at No. 2.

But it’s at No. 1 everywhere else.

Beating Hollywood at its Own Game

This is not simply a case of rooting for David against Goliath (even though that’s a factor, let’s not deny it). It’s not even about indulging in the popular game of knocking Hollywood.

It’s more about celebrating a film that beats Hollywood at its own game: The popularity stakes. It’s about welcoming a homegrown film that strikes a deep chord with the culture that bred it.

Hollywood certainly makes many entertaining films and occasionally a fine one. But it’s a myth that only Americans can make movies that capture the hearts and minds of the public. They would certainly like us to think so, it’s good for business. But let’s not forget that Hollywood has had a stranglehold on film distribution throughout the western world and beyond, basically before World War II. That’s a large contributing factor when looking at Hollywood’s hegemony at the world box office. And that’s not ignoring it’s undeniable filmmaking talent.

The Rise of the Homegrown Films

Recently we’ve seen an interesting development around the globe; the rise of the homegrown films. Last year we witnessed the amazing success of the Millenium trilogy throughout Scandinavia and into Europe (with a US remake in the works), Alejandro Amenabar’s Agora ended up as the third most popular film of the year in Spain, Vicky the Viking and Die Päpstin were among the biggest hits in Germany, Le Petit Nicolas was huge in France (remember Welcome to the Sticks‘ amazing success the year before) and in Japan and South Korea homemade films have all but taken over the box office, pushing Hollywood aside.

Various reasons for this could include:

• The 2008 writer’s strike, which created a gap in the supply line and thus created space for other films;
• Diminishing movie star wattage, with most of them ageing and losing their muscle and new ones not scaling the same heights, as concept becomes the star (Avatar anyone?);
• The marketing saturation of Hollywood films creating an increasing demand for local fare, and;
• Less international interest in anything but the tentpole Hollywood movies, leaving a gap for homegrown films.

In addition Hollywood faces uncertain times, TV and DVD sales  are shrinking and there still isn’t a way to properly monetize services such as VOD and downloads. At the same time piracy remains a big problem.

All in all, the Empire is weakened and not likely to return to its former glory, at least for the time being.

Cue the Barbarians pounding them gates. They might not be able to bring the whole city down in one go, but perhaps they could establish a camp or two and take it from there.

The Numbers Game

Finally, just to put Mr. Bjarnfredarson’s success in another perspective.

• To date, the film has received ca. 45.000 admissions after 12 days on release.
• Proportionally, if an American film, it would have received around 45 million admissions.
• The average ticket price in USA is $7.18.
• $7.18 x 45 million = $323.100.000.
• The film to beat is Baltasar Kormákur’s Jar City (funnily enough, a US remake is in the works). It got around 84.000 admissions in 2006-7.
• $7.18 x 84 million = $603.120.000.
• Gross of current record holder of US domestic B.O.: $600.788.188 (Titanic).

Or to paraphrase by quoting Baltasar Kormákur in a recent CNN interview, talking about the situation in Iceland:

“You’re stuck with making big films for few people”.

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