Blasted Budget

What Is the Budget of Blasted (2022)?

Blasted (2022), directed by Martin Sofiedal and produced by Miso Film Norge for Netflix, did not publish a production budget. The Norwegian-language science-fiction comedy was financed as a Netflix original on a model that gives the streamer worldwide rights in exchange for a fully covered negative cost plus producer fee, with no theatrical window and no public budget disclosure. Based on Norwegian Film Institute support tiers and Miso Film Norge's prior output, industry observers estimate the negative cost in the range of $4,000,000 to $6,000,000.

The project paired Norwegian writer Emanuel Nordrum's spec script with director Sofiedal, whose background lay in Scandinavian commercial work. Netflix slotted the title into its Nordic originals roster alongside Blood Red Sky and Troll, leaning on a Norwegian-language production base that allows access to Norway's 25% production rebate while keeping star compensation and stage costs well below the Anglo-American norm.

Key Budget Allocation Categories

The Norwegian production budget broke down across these primary line items:

• Above-the-Line Talent: Lead actors Axel Bøyum and Mathias Luppichini headlined as estranged childhood friends reunited at a bachelor party, with Ingrid Bolsø Berdal (Westworld, Hercules) in a supporting role. Norwegian feature lead rates sit well below US scales, and director Martin Sofiedal commanded a feature-director quote appropriate to a first-time Netflix original.
• Norway Location Shoot: Principal photography took place in Norway, primarily in the Trøndelag and Oslo regions, qualifying for the 25% Norwegian Film Institute production rebate. The cabin-and-forest setting kept location costs disciplined and leaned on natural Nordic exteriors that the script wrote into the story rather than requiring extensive stage construction.
• Visual Effects: The alien-laser-tag conceit required green and red beam composites, ship-arrival composites, and creature work for the climactic invasion. Local Norwegian VFX vendors handled the bulk of shots at rates significantly below US or UK pricing, with the heaviest creature work outsourced to specialty houses.
• Practical Stunts and Action: The film leaned on extended slapstick-action set pieces involving forest chases, cabin shootouts, and laser-tag costuming. Stunt coordination, picture-vehicle preparation, and squib work accounted for a meaningful share of the production budget given the lean overall scale.
• Score and Soundtrack: Norwegian composer Roy Westad scored the film. Soundtrack licensing leaned on Nordic-rights tracks rather than expensive international placements, keeping the music budget modest.
• Netflix Mastering and Localization: Streaming deliverables including subtitled and dubbed tracks in Netflix's top-tier languages added incremental post costs that a theatrical-only Norwegian release would not have incurred, but these were absorbed by Netflix as the licensor.

How Does Blasted's Budget Compare to Similar Films?

Blasted sits in the typical Nordic-Netflix-original bracket. The comparison set:

• Troll (2022): Budget approximately $10,000,000 | Worldwide N/A (streaming-only). Roar Uthaug's Netflix Norwegian creature-feature ran at roughly double Blasted's estimated scale and became one of the streamer's most-watched non-English titles, illustrating where Norwegian-original budgets land when Netflix commits to the next tier.
• Blood Red Sky (2021): Budget undisclosed | Worldwide N/A (streaming-only). Peter Thorwarth's German-language Netflix vampire-on-a-plane original is a structural sibling: contained location, genre premise, mid-budget European spend, streaming-only release.
• The Trip (2021): Budget undisclosed | Worldwide N/A (streaming-only). Tommy Wirkola's Norwegian Netflix dark comedy was produced by Miso Film Norge's competitor at a comparable scale and shares the cabin-thriller premise template.
• Cadaver (2020): Budget undisclosed | Worldwide N/A (streaming-only). Jarand Herdal's Norwegian Netflix horror was an even leaner production and confirms the floor for Norwegian-original spend on the platform.

Blasted Box Office Performance

Blasted premiered as a Netflix streaming-only release on June 28, 2022, with no theatrical window in any territory. As is standard for Netflix originals, the platform does not disclose viewership in revenue terms and the film generated no reported theatrical box office.

Based on the typical Netflix Norwegian-original deal structure, the financial breakdown:

• Production Budget: approximately $4,000,000 to $6,000,000 (estimated, undisclosed)
• Estimated Prints & Advertising (P&A): absorbed by Netflix global marketing, not disclosed
• Total Estimated Investment: approximately $5,000,000 to $8,000,000 negative cost plus producer fee
• Worldwide Gross: N/A (streaming-only Netflix original)
• Net Return: covered by Netflix license fee at delivery
• ROI: N/A (cost-plus license model)

The Netflix cost-plus model removes traditional ROI calculation. Producers receive a contracted fee above negative cost on delivery and Netflix assumes all marketing, distribution, and viewership risk in exchange for global rights in perpetuity.

Blasted appeared briefly in Netflix's daily top-10 lists in Norway and a handful of Scandinavian territories at launch, but did not crack Netflix's global non-English top-10 for any week of its release window.

Blasted Production History

Development started at Miso Film Norge with writer Emanuel Nordrum's spec script in 2020. Miso Film is the Norwegian arm of the Danish-headquartered Miso Film group, known for Dicte, Those Who Kill, and the Wisting franchise. Producer Are Heidenstrøm shepherded the project to Netflix, which greenlit it as part of the streamer's Nordic-originals expansion announced in late 2020. Principal photography ran in Norway through 2021, with the production using the Norwegian Film Institute's 25% production rebate to anchor the financing.

Director Martin Sofiedal made his feature debut on the project, transitioning from a commercial and short-film background. The Norwegian-language production cast Axel Bøyum and Mathias Luppichini as Sebastian and Mikkel, supported by Westworld's Ingrid Bolsø Berdal. Netflix dated the title for late June 2022 globally with a single-day worldwide drop and a 95-language subtitle package.

Awards and Recognition

Blasted received no major awards recognition. The film was not nominated at the Amanda Awards (the Norwegian national film prize) the year of its release, was not selected by Norway for international festival circuits, and did not register at the European Film Awards. The streaming-only release pattern, combined with the broad-comedy register of the material, kept the project outside the awards conversation for both genre and national prizes.

Critical Reception

Blasted received mixed-to-positive reviews skewed toward genre audiences. The film holds a 71% audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though the critics' page did not collect enough reviews for a Tomatometer score. On IMDb, the film carries a 5.6 out of 10 average from approximately 14,000 user ratings. Norwegian outlet Verdens Gang awarded the film three stars, praising the laser-tag-meets-alien-invasion premise while noting the third act tips toward conventional creature-feature beats. Scandinavian streaming-review aggregator Filmtopia called it "an effective Friday-night Netflix watch that does not overstay its welcome."

Genre press received the film more favorably than mainstream outlets. Bloody Disgusting praised the practical-effects-leaning alien design and the chemistry between Bøyum and Luppichini, while Dread Central flagged the script's reluctance to commit to either pure comedy or pure horror. The mixed reception was consistent with the broader pattern of Netflix Nordic-original genre films: positive engagement from streaming-genre fans, muted attention from traditional critical institutions, no theatrical-window box office to anchor the cultural footprint.