The Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia have confirmed local films enjoyed their best ever year at the box office in 2015, finishing at just over $88 million in revenue, significantly surpassing the 2001 record of $63.4 million in October.
Local films that played a big part in this achievement were Mad Max: Fury Road ($21.7 million), The Dressmaker ($18.6 million in 2015 and is still playing, with the $20 million mark in sight), The Water Diviner ($10.15 million in 2015) and Last Cab To Darwin ($7.4 million). The family films Oddball ($11.04 million) and Paper Planes ($9.65 million) also did exceptional business, while That Sugar Film took over $1.7 million to become the highest grossing Australian documentary ever.
Very impressively, Mad Max: Fury Road and The Dressmaker also made it into the top 20 films at the box office for the year, despite competing against such franchise heavyweights as Star Wars, Jurassic World, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Spectre and Pitch Perfect 2.
Overall, Australian films delivered a 7.18% box office share, the highest in 14 years.
In response to these year’s figures, Screen Australia introduced the Family Film Initiative and the Gender Matters programs to keep the momentum going.
See the Top 10 Australian films at the 2015 box office below and their takings for the year.
- Mad Max: Fury Road $21,685,344
- The Dressmaker $18,557,934
- Oddball $11,043,604
- The Water Diviner $10,148,891
- Paper Planes $9,654,965
- Last Cab to Darwin $7,390,306
- Blinky Bill: The Movie $2,906,981
- That Sugar Film $1,708,908
- Holding The Man $1,250,540
- Alex & Eve $536,475
We have high hopes for Australian film in 2016 too as you can see from the upcoming slate of titles headed to our screens this year.
