Box Office successes

Cinema is not only attracting a younger audience nowadays. Following his success with Robocop and Basic instinct, Paul Verhoeven returned from Hollywood and his 2006 film Black Book – a cynical drama set in World War II – drew more than a million viewers. A year later the Netherlands’ best dialogue writer Kim van Kooten transposed the archetypal British Christmas comedy Love actually with equal success to the traditional Dutch Sinterklaas celebration in the ensemble drama Alles is Liefde. Productive director Martin Koolhoven’s adventure film Winter in Wartime did not quite reach the magic million mark. However, this was achieved by TV producer and former soap actor Reinout Oerlemans, who in 2009 surprised friend and foe with his penetrating cancer drama Komt een Vrouw bij de Dokter.

Carice van Houten, currently the Netherlands’ biggest star, has played a leading role in many of these box office successes. She has also established herself in Hollywood, for example playing opposite Tom Cruise in Valkyrie. Another rising star is Halina Reijn, a good friend of Van Houten, who starred in the family comedy Zus en Zo which was nominated for an Academy award and directed by Paula van der Oest who operates on the boundary of art house and mainstream film.