Cop Secret breaks a record and brings in the big bucks
Is the premiere film of the Nordic Days at the Lübeck Film Festival
The Icelandic film Cop Secret has had a great run and when the last figures on the film's income were published, it was revealed that from the film's premiere in cinemas until Wednesday 24 October, the film's revenues amounted to almost ISK 24 million. This is an Icelandic record, but with this result Cop Secret broke the fifteen year old record from Myrin. And the attendance at the film is still good and the income continues to rise.
As is well known and has been stated here on the site, two graduates of The Film School were involved in the making of the film, Vivian Ólafsdóttir who plays a major role in the film and Nína Petersen who is one of the three screenwriters, the others being Hannes Þór Halldórsson, director, football champion and former national team goalkeeper and Sverrir Þór Sverrisson, better known as Sveppi. Cop Secret is about the undercover cop Bussi who is played by Auðunn Blöndal and the adventures he encounters in his work.
Many participants from The Film School
But there were more graduates of The Film School who came to make Cop Secret and put their hand to the plow in the production of this great entertainment film. These were Jón Már Gunnarsson, who was in charge of special effects, Gunnar Gunnarsson assistant production manager, Haraldur Ari Karlsson and Ottó Gunnarsson assistant directors, Hafþór Ingi Garðarsson gaffer and Emil Morávek location manager.
With an elegant start on the white screen and a good response from the audience, Cop Secret not only managed to beat the film Mýrin record from 2006, but did better than other very popular films. And the representatives of the film are optimistic and say that Cop Secret will attack more records in the near future.
As previously stated in this forum, Cop Secret premiered last summer at the Lucarno Film Festival, and it came as a surprise to the creators that the film should be screened at such a prestigious film festival, let alone receive as good reviews as it actually did. People did not directly expect that a special Icelandic humor that only Icelanders should understand would hit the mark abroad, but it is clear that this is the case, as the film has been well received and shown interest by retailers.
But Cop Secret is not only a popular film, it is also shown in two versions at the cinema, which is unusual and actually unique in this country. One version of the film is banned within 16 years and the other banned for under 12 years. Cop Secret is the first Icelandic film to come in two versions and Hallgrímur Kristinsson, who is an expert in this field, was asked to evaluate the film and give his opinion.
Hallgrímur is the chairman of the Association of Rights-holders in the Television and Film Industry, and was hired to advise on how to soften individual aspects of the film, so that it fell within the limits for younger viewers. A representative of the cinemas had previously ruled that the film would have to be banned for under 16 year olds. According to Hallgrímur, a few things needed to be fixed, as director Hannes Þór Halldórsson was pointed out, and after some editing, the result was that the film was made in two versions - banned within 12 years and banned within 16 years- and viewers can choose between them at the cinema
The premiere film at the Nordic Days at the Lübeck Film Festival
There have also been reports that the production and distribution company Alief has sold exhibition rights to Cop Secret to many countries in Europe and Asia.
A press release says that Alief's CEO is excited for the film, which he says is deadly funny and a film for all those who love the '90s and classic thrillers in the spirit of Die Hard.
Cop Secret will be premiered at the Nordic Days at the Lübeck Film Festival in Germany on November 3, 2021, but the MFA Plus Film distribution company has secured the rights to the film in German-speaking regions and plans to premiere it next year.
