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Animal Kingdom Roars Into Box Office Success
The highly acclaimed Aussie crime drama proves a well-deserving hit at the local box office
The Sundance award-winning Animal Kingdom opened on June 3 on 48 screens nationally and has taken an impressive $604,139 on its opening weekend, coming in at No. 4 at the Australian box office.
This feat is even more impressive given that the film released in local cinemas against Hollywood blockbusters including Sex and the City 2 and Prince of Persia, which beat it at the box office, but were on far more screens.
Having garnered almost unanimous rave reviews, debuting writer/director David Michod has crafted an atmospheric and well-paced crime drama set in Melbourne, which is boosted by strong performances from a slew of new and established local talent.
Animal Kingdom follows seventeen-year-old Joshua ‘J' Cody (newcomer James Frecheville) who, after the death of his mother, moves in with his estranged family under the watchful eye of his grandmother, Janine ‘Smurf' Cody (Jacki Weaver), and her three criminal sons.
Eldest son and armed robber, Andrew ‘Pope' Cody (Ben Mendelsohn) is in hiding from a gang of detectives. Middle brother Craig (Sullivan Stapleton) is a volatile drug dealer, and young Darren (Luke Ford) naively follows his elder brothers' lead. Just as Pope's business partner and best friend, Barry Brown (Joel Edgerton), decides that he wants out of the game, tensions between the family and the police explode.
J finds himself at the centre of a cold-blooded revenge plot that turns his family upside down and which throws him directly into the path of detective Nathan Leckie (Guy Pearce). J is tasked with deciding where his loyalties stand.
US distributors, Sony Picture Classics, are gearing up for the North American release of the film on August 13. The film has also been sold to various international distributors in the US, UK, France, Italy, Spain and Germany.
Due to the strength of the box office results, Animal Kingdom will also expand screen numbers nationally from the upcoming long weekend. Further screening details will be available on the Madman website. For more information about the film, visit the Animal Kingdom website.