| Ricky Rapper and the Bicycle Thief | |
| Director: | Mari Rantasila |
| Music: | Iiro Rantala |
| Editing: | Tuuli Kuittinen |
| Studio: | Kinotar |
| Distributor: | Nordisk Film |
| Runtime: | 100 minutes |
| Country: | Finland |
| Language: | Finnish |
| Budget: | € 1,700,000 |
| Gross: | $ 3,151,286 (13 September 2010)[1] |
Ricky Rapper and the Bicycle Thief (Finnish: Risto Räppääjä ja polkupyörävaras) is a 2009 Finnish musical film.[2] The film is based on children's fantasy book series Ricky Rapper of Sinikka Nopola and Tiina Nopola. However, the film is not based on any book volume. The children's musical comedy Ricky Rapper and the Bicycle Thief continues loosely the previous film Ricky Rapper. The film was shot in Kartanonkoski in the city of Vantaa and also in Hyvinkää, Porvoo and Sipoo in the summer 2009. Furthermore, train station scenes were shot in the Kauklahti railway station in the city of Espoo and on the Ilmala rail yard in the city of Helsinki.[3]
The previous Ricky Rapper film was shot a couple of years earlier and the kid actors, as Ricky Rapper and Nelly Butterfly, were "over-aged". Consequently, the studio hired new main actors. However, previous stars make a pop-up visit during the end credits of the film.
The Ricky Rapper and the Bicycle Thief received 38,425 viewers in its first weekend – almost double as the previous film. The result was the sixth most successful in the Finnish box-office in its first weekend all-time, and the most successful Finnish family movie all-time.[4] In 2010, the Ricky Rapper and the Bicycle Thief received 328 000 viewers and it was the second popular Finnish film in that year.[5]
Aunt Serena Rapper and Lennart Lindberg leave on a vacation and Fanny Freezer comes to take care of Ricky Rapper and Nelly Noodlehead. Ricky gets a new bike, but the bike disappears inexplicably.