A Royal Proposal: A Royal in Paradise II, starring Rhiannon Fish and Mitchell Bourke, produced by Jaggi Entertainment, directed by Adrian Powers, wraps in Queensland
Well, that was a quick reign for Napoleon, with the Hunger Games prequel jumping back to the top spot in Week 3 of release. Props to Warner Bros for backing Bottoms, an original story with nary a name cast, made by an exciting new female voice, but the box office says otherwise. Same goes for Uproar, a beautifully made crowdpleaser from the other side of the ditch, which struggled despite its success on home turf. But the big story for the third week in a row is the staying power of promising young woman Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn, which continues to increase its box office haul every respective weekend.
As if the world isn’t in enough trouble, now we get another war between some secret otherworldly power, Kong and Godzilla! Shot in Queensland! We’re rooting for Dan Stevens.
Furiosa!
When Australian production company Painting in Pictures was approached by Elon Musk’s XPrize with a proposition to create a documentary for a Carbon Removal Challenge featuring the WhaleX team, filmmaking duo Kirsty B Carter and Joe Harrison were enthusiastic to get on board.
Fascinating to see 2 Apple TV+ funded feature films – Napoleon and Killers of the Flower Moon – that have been given a proper release window before hitting streaming, doing so well at the box office. They’ll hardly recoup the cost of making and releasing, but as profile raisers, this must offer an alternative model to other streamers for a cinematic release. Speaking of ‘Insert Name’ Originals, Australia’s own The Royal Hotel is touted as a Binge Original – not originally, after production, but still… which hasn’t done so well on opening weekend, pipped at the post by 1-off screenings of a Carl Barron special. Saltburn, though, continues to attract audiences into week 2, with the weekend’s smallest drop off, proving that audiences love/hate our Anglo cousins, especially the posh ones.
Boy swallows universe, and universe – via Netflix globally – is about to swallow crime-filled, nostalgia-fuelled coming of ager Boy Swallows Universe
Another series from production companies Made Up Stories and Blossom Films goes into production, commissioned by Foxtel/Binge.
The Australian-based filmmaker’s semi-autobiographical music drama features Ed Oxenbould, Márton Csókás, and Kiwi singer-songwriter Stella Bennett (Benee).
Despite the online doomsayers, Hunger Games prequel, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes opened strongly, which will unfortunately mean more prequels. Apart from that, the surprisingly wide release of Saltburn saw some sites doing boffo business, whilst too many were DOA – should be interesting to see the screen spread for that one in Week 2. Speaking of DOA, it doesn’t look like Thanksgiving means much to Australian audiences, understandably.