Let the Right One In premiered at the Gothenburg Film Festival in Sweden on 26 January 2008[38] where Alfredson won the Festival's Nordic Film Prize.[39] It subsequently played at several other film festivals, including the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City (24 April 2008), where it won the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature;[40] the Edinburgh Film Festival (25 June 2008), where it won the Rotten Tomatoes Critical Consensus Award;[41][42] and the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival in Switzerland (3 July 2008), where it won the Méliès d'Argent (Silver Méliès).[43]
The Swedish premiere was originally planned for 18 April 2008, but following the positive response from the festival screenings, the producers decided to postpone the release until autumn, to allow for a longer theatrical run.[44] At one time there was a plan to release the film for a special series of screenings in Luleå, beginning 24 September and lasting seven days. This was canceled when the Swedish Film Institute announced that Everlasting Moments had been selected over Let the Right One In as Sweden's submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.[45] The distributors released it on 24 October 2008 in Sweden, Norway, and as a limited release in the United States.[46] In Australia, the film was released on 19 March 2009.[47] The film was released in cinemas in the United Kingdom on 10 April 2009.[48]
The film was released in North America on DVD and Blu-ray in March 2009 by Magnet Films, and in the United Kingdom in August by Momentum Pictures. The American discs feature both the original Swedish dialogue and an English dubbed version, while the European versions feature only the Swedish, and an audio-descriptive track in English. Icons of Fright reported that the American release had been criticised for using new, oversimplified English subtitles instead of the original theatrical subtitles.[49] Following customer complaints, Magnet stated that they would release an updated version with the original theatrical subtitles, but will not exchange current discs.[50] Director Alfredson also expressed his dissatisfaction with the DVD subtitles, calling it a "turkey translation". "If you look on the 'net, people are furious about how bad it is done", he added.[51] The UK release retains the theatrical subtitles.
