Copenhagen-based TrustNordisk has inked multiple deals on the Danish thriller “Boundless,” based on Jussi Adler-Olsen’s “Department Q” novel, which is currently dominating the Danish box office.
Ahead of the pic’s market screening Feb 17 at the Berlin European Film Market, the title, helmed by Ole Christian Madsen (“Banshee,” “Flame & Citron”) has sold to Wild Bunch Distribution for France, Vértigo Films for Spain, Frenetic Films for Switzerland, Film Europe Slovakia for Czech Republic, Vertigo Media for Hungary and Contents Panda for Korea.
“Boundless” is the second of six Department Q thrillers produced by Nordisk Film Production Denmark, after “The Marco Effect,” headlining Ulrich Thomsen as maverick detective Carl Mørck.
“It’s such a pleasure to handle this amazing ‘Department Q’ saga for Vértigo, and “Boundless” confirms again the power and seduction of this perfect thriller,” said Spanish distributor Andres Martín from Vértigo Films, who also acquired “The Marco Effect” from TrustNordisk.
In “Boundless,” adapted for the screen by Jakob Weiss (“That Time of Year”), Carl Mørck is flanked by his famous side-kick Assad (Afshin Firouzi from Lone Scherfig’s series “The Shift”) and his junior colleague Rose (Sofie Torp from “Carmen Curlers”).
The young cop is sent to the island of Bornholm to talk to Carl Mørck’s old friend and colleague, Christian Habersaat. But when the latter shoots himself during his forced retirement ceremony, Rose is thrown back into her own traumatic past. When the newly engaged Carl later arrives on the island, he, Rose and Assad are embroiled in an old cold case of a girl found dead hanging from a tree.
The thriller, based on Adler-Olsen’s “The Hanging Girl,” the sixth book in his “Department Q” crime series, is produced by Mikael Rieks and Malene Blenkov for Nordisk Film Production Denmark, in co-production with Germany’s Nadcon Film, in association with Denmark’s Hyæne Film and Latvia’s Münchhausen Productions.
Since its Feb. 1 opening in Denmark, “Boundless” has sold more than 152,000 tickets, the best result of all theatrical releases in 2024 so far.TrustNordisk’s other Scandi titles screening at the European Film Market take in the Sundance-selected “Handling the Undead,” the WWII action drama “The Arctic Convoy,” and period epic “Stockholm Bloodbath.”
The popular “Department Q” crime franchise is also being made as a Netflix TV show with “The Queen’s Gambit”’s Scott Frank attached as showrunner.
