Costly Costa! campaign pays off

Costa!, the Dutch teen comedy by Johan Nijenhuis, has shattered domestic records during its opening run. In the Thursday to Sunday first weekend it notched up over 100,000 spectators in its home market of The Netherlands.

On its opening Thursday it attracted 22,000 visitors, a total which puts it on a par with Jurassic Park and Titanic.

Distributed by A-Film on 82 screens, the film was given an American-style promotional campaign costing over $500,000 prior to launch. The classic campaign was backed by extensive on-line support and the film screened with an exclusive trailer of the highly anticipated Lord Of The Rings.

Set in the Spanish resort of Salou, the film is a romantic comedy of love jealousy, friendship and sex starring Georgina Verbaan, Katja Schuurman and Daan Schuurmans. Director Johan Nijenhuis comes with a solid commercial track record, having produced hit TV series Good Times, Bad Times, Westenwind and Blauw Blauw.

The picture was produced by Solo Film company (Joop van den Ende and Jos van der Linden), Fu Works (San Fu Maltha) and Johan Nijenhuis Produkties, in co-production with BNN.