This year’s genre blockbuster in Norway, The Wave, is now on DVD, in time for Christmas stockings everywhere.
At least if you order it from Norway or Denmark, as The Wave so far has only been released there. Roar Uthaug’s 4th feature film became a hit, pulling in 825.000 ticket holders to seats across the country since August 28th. That made it the most popular theatrical movie in Norway this year, 200.000 ahead of Spectre and twice the number of tickets sold for Jurassic World. It also puts it among the five most popular movies in Norway ever.
Real-life facts are the basis for the 5.8 million euro disaster movie which predicts what will happen if the mountain Åkneset crumbles into the Storfjord. In the film, the experienced geologist Kristian Eikfjord (Kristoffer Joner) has accepted a job offer out of town. He is getting ready to move from the city of Geiranger with his family, when he and his colleagues measure small geological changes in the underground. Kristian gets worried and his worst nightmare is about to come true, when the alarm goes off and the disaster is inevitable. With less than 10 minutes to react, it becomes a race against time in order to save as many as possible, including his own family.
The Wave arrived in Norwegian and Danish stores on November 30th (in Sweden it will be released on January 18th), as well as on VOD, with the following special features:
- Behind the scenes
- VFX breakdown
- Trailer
- Teaser trailer
- Dolby Atmos sound (BluRay only – first Norwegian movie to offer this)
Inside sources predict that despite the demise of the physical video format, the The Wave may sell 150.000 physical copies, mainly through retailers such as electronics stores and grocery chains.
In other Roar Uthaug news, the director (whose day job is directing commercials – at least until now) has been hired by MGM and Warner Bros to direct their big budget reboot of Tomb Raider, probably to a large extent thanks to The Wave, which is also Norway’s entry into the Oscar race. The yet untitled computer game based movie does not have a star or a title yet, but is scheduled for a 2017 release. No other details were disclosed. Angelina Jolie played Lara Croft in two movies, in 2001 and 2003, but is very unlikely to return.