Stieg Larsson thrillers drove cinema admission in Sweden last year.

Cinema admissions in Sweden rose to 17.4m in 2009, its highest level for seven years and a 13.4% increase on the previous year.

According to the Swedish Film Institute, gross box office receipts also rose $20.9m (SEK153.5m) compared $16.9m (SEK123.4m) in 2008.

The Millennium trilogy helped local market share to climb to 32.7% from 5.7 million tickets, a 81.5% increase on 2008 and the best result registered since records began in 1963. Even without the Stieg Larsson thrillers, local market share rose to 20.1%.

Led by The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Män Som Hatar Kvinnor), the Millennium films sold 2,755,045 seats, and commanded No 1, No 2 and No 6 positions the charts. They were among the 12 local movies exceeding 100,000 admissions, four more than in 2008. US titles controlled 53.9% of the market.

Sweden’s 2009 Top Ten:
1 The Girl with the Golden Tattoo (Nordisk), 1,217,018 admissions
2 The Girl Who Played with Fire (Flickan Som Lekte Med Elden/Nordisk), 1,029,278
3 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Warner-Sandrew), 754,497
4 Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Fox), 668,038
5 Sommaren Med Göran (Nordisk), 550,085
6 The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest (Luftslottet som sprängdes/Nordisk), 508,749
7 The Twilight Saga:New Moon (/Nordisk), 465,981
8 Up (Disney), 461,272
9 Avatar (Fox), 451,263
10 Angels and Demons (Sony-Disney), 400,701