The crime thriller, the first in a series based
on Jussi Alder-Olsen´s Department Q bestsellers, has grossed close to $8
million in local release so far.
BERLIN - The
Scandi crime wave just keeps killing them. The latest Nordic noir title,
Mikkel Norgaard´s The Keeper of Lost Causes, is a box office hit
at home and is on target to pass Mads Mikkelsen-starrer The
Hunt to become Denmark´s most successful film of the year.
Keeper of Lost
Causes has
grossed some $7.7 million since its Oct. 3 release, compared to around $8
million for The Hunt, the Thomas Vinterberg-directed
drama which bowed in January. If Keeper of Lost Causes keeps
up the pace, it could take pride of place among the most successful Danish
films of all time.
The film stars Nikolaj
Lie Kaas (Angels & Demons) and Fares Fares (Zero
Dark Thirty) as detectives running a cold case division in Copenhagen.
Prolific writer and sometimes director Nikolaj Arcel (A
Royal Affair) penned the screenplay to Keeper of Lost Causes.
Keeper of Lost
Causes is the
first in a franchise based on the bestselling Department Q novels by Danish
writer Jussi Alder-Olsen. The second installment, The
Absent One, which Norgaard is also directing, is currently shooting for a
Fall 2014 release.
Louise Vesth is producing the Department Q franchise for
Zentropa, whose sales arm, TrustNordisk has sold Keeper of Lost Causes to
more than 35 territories. There´s been no U.S. deal yet for the film, though
Magnolia has been has been TrustNordisk´s go-to U.S. distributor
recently, picking up such Scandi titles as Lars von Trier´s porn
epic Nymphomaniac, Lukas Moodysson´s Swedish coming-of-age
tale We Are The Best! and Norwegian action adventure film Ragnarok.