Valhalla (film)

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Valhalla
Directed by	Peter Madsen Jeffrey Varab
Starring	Dick Kaysø Preben Kristensen
Editing by	Lidia Sablone
Distributed by	Metronome
Release date(s)	October 10, 1986
Running time	76 minutes
Country	Denmark
Language	Danish
Budget	DKK40 million (estimated)
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Valhalla is a Danish animated feature film released in October 1986 by Metronome. Based on volumes one, four and five of the Interpresse/Carlsen comic book series, it was directed by Disney-animator Jeffrey J. Varab and cartoonist Peter Madsen.

Jeffrey J. Varab however walked out of the project late in production, due to arguments with a new production management. On the final release version, Peter Madsen, who had drawn the comic books and been the film's artistic supervisor, is credited as director, and Jeffrey J. Varab, who had originated the project with his partner Jakob Stegelmann and trained most of the animators, is credited as co-director.

The Danish release version of the film features the voices of Dick Kaysø, Preben Kristensen, Laura Bro and Marie Ingerslev, but the film was actually animated to an English-language soundtrack featuring the voices of a primarily non-Danish cast. For reasons unknown, the film's original voice-cast, heard on international release-versions and also on the Danish DVD-release, has been removed from the credits on IMDb, leaving Danish cast-members only.

The project ran into severe financial difficulties and was passed on between studios before finally ending up in the hands of Swan Film, a company run by two previously convicted heroin-dealers. At the time of its release, it was Denmark's most expensive film ever, having cost around 40 million kroner. No Danish film has ever gone as much over budget as Valhalla. In spite of selling more tickets than any other Danish film in 1986, its heavy cost inevitably made it a box-office failure. Swan Film made six spin-off short films for television featuring Quark, a character in both the books and the film, before closing down.

The story has a very happy ending: A group of the animators who had made Valhalla soon after regrouped and formed a new company, A. Film A/S, which to this day is Denmark's most succesful animation studio producing frequent artistic triumphs and box-office hits.