AUSTRALIA still heads the list but…
March 10th 2009 14:43
Australian films earned just $35.5 million dollars at the box office amounting to just 3.8% of the $945.5m total box office takings at cinemas over 2008. Adding to this singularly worrying statistic, of that $35.5M, $26.9M or 76% of that came from the Box Office takings for AUSTRALIA leaving less than $8.6M to be shared amongst every other Australian film in the country. With THE BLACK BALLOON ($2.3M) and the Chinese/Australian co-production CHILDREN OF THE SILK ROAD ($1.2M) taking another 10%, it becomes easy to see why we are struggling to compete with overseas productions released domestically. BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT returned more than the entire domestic box office on its own which took the honour of highest grossing film of the year, and also earned a place as one of the top 10 highest grossing films of all times in Australia. Add to this, AUSTRALIA was primarily an American funded film and most of the profits from this film will probably never make its way back into our industry. If it manages to turn a net profit at all.
A quick poll carried out last week with friends and associates revealed an alarming aversion to seeing Australian Films. One comment made was that the respondent didn’t really like the accents and the pictures just always looked to ‘dirty’. When pressed to expand on this reasoning, the pollee (if there is such a word) was unable to describe exactly what it was that he didn’t like only that he preferred American films. Others stated that they were either too apathetic to even bother going to the movies as they could always wait until it came out on DVD or that if they were going to spend $15 on a movie that wanted to be assured that they would get their value for money.
Understandable in this climate, but the point that must be stressed is that these same people did not count the current economic climate as a factor in their choice of film, but the reputation of Australian films on a whole. The media beating that AUSTRALIA received in the lead-up to its release last November did nothing to change the views of these like minded individuals, in fact it only strengthened what their assumptions. Surely if the media and the critics weren’t that enamoured with this big expensive Baz extravaganza than why would the general public turn out to see it. Better off waiting a week or two for the release of QUANTUM OF SOLACE where you can be guaranteed value for money.
Unfortunately this writer is not free of guilt when it comes to negative comments made even before the release of the film and initial insecurities concerning some of the actor’s abilities to pull off such an epic task. A more positive approach needs to be made to support the local industry and to encourage those that may be unsure of whether or not they will get the value they are looking for in a locally made product. We all scream when local products are sold to overseas investors (a recent example being the job losses associated with a major clothing manufacturing moving its production off-shore), but we are not as inclined to argue the same way about our film industry.
If the Australian film industry is to survive and compete with the international films being distributed in this country then we need to show our support for the filmmakers who have chosen to stay and make films in this country. Next time you see an Australian film advertised, get to the cinema and see it. . And for the sake of all those struggling to find work in one of the most competitive industries there is in the world, increase the number of bums on seats by encouraging your friends to go and see it as well.
If every Australian bought on average one ticket to an Australian film each year at an average price of $10, the box office for this year would exceed $200MILLION. Now even if the math is not quite correct, that is almost 6 times the box office of 2008. Imagine what our filmmakers could do with that! Imagine which of our exports we could lure back to our shores!
You can start with THE COMBINATION screening at cinemas right now, TWO FISTS ONE HEART screening soon or CLOSED FOR WINTER which is due for release in April.
TOP 10 FILMS OF 2008
TITLE DISTRIBUTOR BOX OFFICE
THE DARK KNIGHT WARNER BROS 45,781,158
MAMMA MIA! UNIVERSAL 31,734,345
INDIANA JONES - KINGDOM
OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL PARAMOUNT 29,289,765
QUANTUM OF SOLACE SONY PICTURES 28,940,927
SEX AND THE CITY ROADSHOW 26,971,508
AUSTRALIA FOX 26,915,773
KUNG FU PANDA PARAMOUNT 25,829,876
I AM LEGEND ROADSHOW 23,199,299
HANCOCK SONY PICTURES 20,572,585
IRON MAN PARAMOUNT 19,991,768
TOTAL TOP 10 FILMS OF 2008 - $279,227,004 as at 31 December 2008
TOTAL TOP 10 FILMS OF 2007 - $263,111,878 as at 31 December 2007
BOX OFFICE FIGURES COURTESEY OF MPDAA
© 2009 MOTION PICTURE DISTRIBUTORS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA
All Rights Reserved
A quick poll carried out last week with friends and associates revealed an alarming aversion to seeing Australian Films. One comment made was that the respondent didn’t really like the accents and the pictures just always looked to ‘dirty’. When pressed to expand on this reasoning, the pollee (if there is such a word) was unable to describe exactly what it was that he didn’t like only that he preferred American films. Others stated that they were either too apathetic to even bother going to the movies as they could always wait until it came out on DVD or that if they were going to spend $15 on a movie that wanted to be assured that they would get their value for money.
Understandable in this climate, but the point that must be stressed is that these same people did not count the current economic climate as a factor in their choice of film, but the reputation of Australian films on a whole. The media beating that AUSTRALIA received in the lead-up to its release last November did nothing to change the views of these like minded individuals, in fact it only strengthened what their assumptions. Surely if the media and the critics weren’t that enamoured with this big expensive Baz extravaganza than why would the general public turn out to see it. Better off waiting a week or two for the release of QUANTUM OF SOLACE where you can be guaranteed value for money.
NIcole and Hugh
If the Australian film industry is to survive and compete with the international films being distributed in this country then we need to show our support for the filmmakers who have chosen to stay and make films in this country. Next time you see an Australian film advertised, get to the cinema and see it. . And for the sake of all those struggling to find work in one of the most competitive industries there is in the world, increase the number of bums on seats by encouraging your friends to go and see it as well.
You can start with THE COMBINATION screening at cinemas right now, TWO FISTS ONE HEART screening soon or CLOSED FOR WINTER which is due for release in April.
TOP 10 FILMS OF 2008
TITLE DISTRIBUTOR BOX OFFICE
THE DARK KNIGHT WARNER BROS 45,781,158
MAMMA MIA! UNIVERSAL 31,734,345
INDIANA JONES - KINGDOM
OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL PARAMOUNT 29,289,765
QUANTUM OF SOLACE SONY PICTURES 28,940,927
SEX AND THE CITY ROADSHOW 26,971,508
AUSTRALIA FOX 26,915,773
KUNG FU PANDA PARAMOUNT 25,829,876
I AM LEGEND ROADSHOW 23,199,299
HANCOCK SONY PICTURES 20,572,585
IRON MAN PARAMOUNT 19,991,768
TOTAL TOP 10 FILMS OF 2008 - $279,227,004 as at 31 December 2008
TOTAL TOP 10 FILMS OF 2007 - $263,111,878 as at 31 December 2007
BOX OFFICE FIGURES COURTESEY OF MPDAA
© 2009 MOTION PICTURE DISTRIBUTORS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA
All Rights Reserved
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SimonC
