Three international releases - Borat, Night at the Museum and 300, assisted by Icelandic director Bjorn Br Bjornsson's thriller, Cold Trail - contributed to a 27% increase of admissions in Iceland during the first quarter of 2007, according to figures from SMAIS Iceland, the local MPA partner.

Ticket sales rose from 515,000 to 656,000.

Last year Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur's Jar City - produced by his own Blueeyes shingle - made the whole difference on the charts, taking more than twice the 2005 total of domestic admissions, and contributing to a 238% rise in attendance for local fare, to control 8.5% of the market.

The Sena release reached 81,580 admissions to be seen by almost a third of the country's 294,000 population, by far outnumbering international blockbusters such as Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Man's Chest, Casino Royale and The Da Vinci Code.

After the Jan 19 launch of Ragnar Bragason's Parents, which did not make it to the list of Top Ten films, the Icelandic Film Centre expected another three to four domestic productions to hit the screens in 2007, including Gunnar B. Gudmundsson's feature debut, Dorks & Damsels, a comedy starring former Miss Iceland, Ragnhildur Steinunn Jonsdottir.

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