“Heidi”: the greatest Swiss film hit ever?

With audiences of half a million in Switzerland and 2.4 million worldwide, Alain Gsponer’s remake of “Heidi” has been hailed as the most successful film in the history of Swiss cinema. This claim is hard to verify, due to the lack of long-term statistics. Anyway, what makes a Swiss film? In a country where cinema is largely subsidised by the government, one would expect there would be detailed statistics on the success of any given film at the box office, its appearance at festivals and the number of prizes it received. That is not the case. There aren't many figures available and they basically concern the domestic market. As far as international success is concerned, not even Swiss Films, the agency that promotes Swiss cinema, was able to provide complete data. So it cannot be said for certain that “Heidi” is the most watched Swiss film of all time, although the figure of 2.4 million viewers is certainly impressive. At the national level, the most informative source is the ...