London-based Cineflix Rights is taking Hildur into five new international markets, using local ratings and a bestselling book franchise as proof that the Nordic crime series can travel.
The distributor confirmed sales for the six-part series in English and Scandinavian to Canal+ in France, NPO in the Netherlands, SBS in Australia, RTV in Slovenia and LTV in Latvia as Mipcom opened in Cannes.
From local hit to export pitch
The show arrives with an unusual head start. In Iceland, where it streams on Síminn, Cineflix says Hildur ranks among the biggest local dramas the market has seen. In Finland, it plays on Nelonen Media’s Ruutu platform.
The novels behind it have already sold more than 2 million copies in 30 territories. For an acquisition team, that is a quantifiable audience signal before a single local marketing campaign begins.
What buyers are actually licensing
Cineflix Rights CEO Tim Mutimer described the show as “the perfect example of the distinctive ‘Nordic Blue’ genre,” pairing a police thriller with bigger themes of friendship, family and loss against Iceland’s Westfjords backdrop.
- 2 million+ books sold across 30 territories.
- Five new homes in France, the Netherlands, Australia, Slovenia and Latvia.
- Two local proof points in Iceland and Finland, where the series was co-commissioned.
The production behind the pitch
Hildur is adapted by Finnish head writer Matti Laine and Icelandic co-writer Margret Örnolfsdottir. Ebba Katrín Finnsdóttir stars as the surfing detective Hildur, with Lauri Tikkanen as trainee officer Jakob and a German colleague mistakenly assigned to her team.
The show comes from Finland’s Take Two Studios and Iceland’s Sagafilm, with funding from IPR.VC. The Netherlands deal was facilitated by Lumiere, which picked up rights for the Benelux region.
What it means for slates
For media planners and content teams, Hildur is a template for IP-led acquisition: a source property with built-in awareness, two small-market success stories that lower perceived risk, and a genre label that can be marketed consistently across countries.
At a market like Mipcom, where buyers see dozens of crime dramas, the difference is often the evidence package. Hildur’s pitch bundles viewership rank, publishing sales and a defined Nordic Blue tone; that lets a commissioning editor defend the pick internally.
The bigger story for the trade is the format: a book-first IP strategy that turns reader awareness into a line item for broadcasters and streamers.
Takeaway: when a title arrives with local ratings and book sales attached, it is no longer being sold as a gamble; it is being sold as a pre-audienced asset.
Cineflix is applying the same logic to other book-based dramas on its Mipcom slate, including Anna Pigeon and The Walsh Sisters. Expect literary crime and family drama to remain strong international sales currency.
Source: Variety
