The Unchained did not interest the viewers based on the premiere week.
Andrei Alén, Aku Hirviniemi and Ona Huczkowski star in the new version of Hirttämäfsien. Mona Salminen
The Hanged Man movie hit theaters on Wednesday, May 24. This is a new version Pertti “Spede” Pasanen and Vesa-Matti Loirin from a classic film.
The new film has been directed by a well-known actor Andrei Alén, who also stars as Tonto himself. In addition to him, the comedy features Aku Hirviniemi and Ona Huczkowski.
Crush reviews
The reception has not been flattering, as critics gave the film a crushing review.
In the review of the episode written by Jussi Huhtala Unhangable was called the worst film of the millennium. Helsingin Sanomat critic Pekka Torvinen again, he was particularly ashamed of Aku Hirviniemi’s role performance. Karelian Olli-Matti Oinonen gave the movie only one star.
– How can you really do something this bad, Oinonen wrote.
The audience was also not very interested in the comedy. Head of Theatrical Distribution for SF Studios Timo Räisänen says that 1,309 viewers in Finland saw the film during its premiere week. SF Studios is in charge of the distribution of the movie Hanged Up.
– The distributor always wants more viewers, we don’t have any upper limit. We always hope for miracles to happen in cinemas, says Räisänen.
The movie “Hirttämäimit” did not convince the critics. Mona Salminen
The premiere can be considered very sad, as Disney released last week The little Mermaid -film gathered more than 16,000 viewers in Finland.
– Of course, the films have been tested in advance. We usually have an accurate idea of the realism of what will happen at the box office. It (the number of viewers) was not a surprise. Yes, we were aware that May would be challenging for domestic films to rush into cinemas, says Räsänen.
Should the film have been released in the fall, if May is difficult for a domestic film?
– Due to the pandemic, a lot of films were made in storage. Distributors still have a post-pandemic backlog, which means they just have to get films onto the screen, because new ones are being made all the time. It comes with a “best before” date, which means that the film cannot be kept in temporary storage for a very long time. You just have to dare to put the film in theaters at some point.
Räisänen also justifies the timing by the fact that there are fewer domestic films available in the spring. We still plan to invest in advertising despite the weak opening.
– Although the criticism has been quite crushing, we have also received positive feedback. In the market research, it turned out that young adults and teenagers are the most suitable ground for the humor of Hirttämämäkien, so we will probably still target advertising on social media there, and let’s see how it goes.
Räsänen says that filmmaking is the “king sport”.
– Successes must also involve luck, small things that you can’t even influence yourself. Comedy is the most difficult genre of the king’s genre, it is a recipe that is rarely completely successful.
Viewers were not enthusiastic about the new film either. Mona Salminen
Disappointed director
Iltalehti contacted director Andrei Alén via email to comment on the film’s poor reception.
The film Hirttämättit received quite harsh criticism from the critics, what thoughts did the criticism arouse in you as a director?
– It felt bad, Alén commented sparingly.
On what issues do you disagree with the critics?
– Many viewers have said that they laughed, and we have received a lot of happy feedback about the film.
Alén does not go into detail about the reasons for the weak viewership. However, he hopes that those who have seen the film have enjoyed themselves.