MUMBAI: The first film in the Swedish Millennium trilogy, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, has grossed $103 million at the box office worldwide.

“This is beyond what we ever expected. For a film shot in a language spoken by merely nine million people, this kind of success is absolutely remarkable,” said Mikael Wallén, president of the production company Yellow Bird, part of the Zodiak Entertainment Group.

During the 2000s only five other non-English European films have grossed above $100 million. All of them are French and include Amélie ($174 million) and the recent hit Welcome to the Sticks ($245 million).

Outside Scandinavia, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (aka Men Who Hate Women) has been particularly successful in Spain ($14 million), France ($10 million) and the US ($8.7 million). The film is yet to be released in several major markets such as Russia and Mexico.

Zodiak Entertainment CEO David Frank said, “The Millennium trilogy is currently one of our most important assets. Around 50 territories have bought the first film and already some 30 countries have picked up the second and third.”

The second film in the trilogy, The Girl Who Played With Fire, opens in the US and the UK on 2 July and 27 Augustrespectively. The final part, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest, will also get US and UK releases during the autumn. Taken together, the three films have so far grossed around $173 million worldwide.

Swedish company Yellow Bird has produced the trilogy, based on Stieg Larsson’s books and together with broadcasters SVT and ZDF, as well as the distributor Nordisk Film.