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Franchise Flicks Dominate Australian Box Office Again
See what we lined up for at the cinemas last year...
Out of the 20 plus big-budget sequels, prequels and spin-offs that were released during 2011, six dominated Australian cinemas, with the national box office figures just released by the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (MPDAA). The wildly successful Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (+$52.6M) led the way as Australia's third highest grossing film ever, contributing a large chunk to the total $1,093,733,000 made at Australian cinemas last year, a 3.08% drop from 2010's record breaking figures.
MPDAA Chairman and Managing Director of Paramount Pictures, Michael Selwyn, commented, "These results show that even though Australians are faced with an ever-increasing choice of leisure activities, experiencing films on the big screen remains one of the most popular entertainment choices for the Australian public."
2011's box office takings were kick-started on January 30 when all major and independent cinemas banded together to raise money for the victims of 2010/11 floods in Queensland and NSW. Two dollars from every ticket sold went to flood relief funds. The day saw a total $515,165 raised, with 80% of the funds going to the Queensland Premier's Disaster Relief Appeal and 20% to the Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund.
Meanwhile the all-girl comedy smash Bridesmaids ($27.1M) and Disney's Tangled ($22.2M) were two of only four original films to round out the top ten highest grossing films of the year. The other two were the Emile Sherman produced and Oscar winning The King's Speech (26.8M) and local family favourite Red Dog ($21.3M).
Other local strong performers were the James Cameron produced Sanctum ($3.9M) and the revealing drama Oranges and Sunshine ($3.8M). The self-distributed heart warmer Mrs Carey's Concert (almost $1.2M), which found a loyal audience and tapped into the power of word-of mouth, became the fourth highest grossing Australian documentary ever.
Staying true to the power of the franchise were Transformers: Dark Of The Moon ($37.5M), The Hangover Part II ($32.7M), The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 ($28.1M), Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($27.3M) and Fast and Furious 5 ($25.3M).
2012 is also set for another bumper crop of sequels and spin-offs all concluding in December with the much-anticipated Peter Jackson epic The Hobbit. In the meantime, cinemagoers are likely to flock to The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-man and The Dark Knight Rises in the comic book categories; Ice Age: Continental Drift and Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted for the kids; Men In Black 3 and The Bourne Legacy for the boys, and for the all important tweens, the first in The Hunger Games series as well as the long awaited conclusion to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2.
Selwyn added: "We are confident about the future of cinema-going in Australia. We look forward to another excellent year for the industry in 2012."