2012 was the first time since 2007 that no Australian film in international release had a multi territory release by a major. There was no Happy Feet with Warner Bros, no Australia with Fox, no Tomorrow When The War Began with PPI / Inferno.
This disappointing situation partly reflects the development processes of the bigger commercial titles which can be unpredictable and elongated; partly it reflects the Australian /US dollar parity and partly it reflects the studios’ reduced output and tent pole caution.
Certainly, going forward, 2013 will have The Great Gatsby from Warner Bros., I Frankenstein from E 1 / Lakeshore and Mad Max – Fury Road from Warner Bros (maybe). and perhaps others.
Nonetheless this reality represents a step back from the continued upward movement in the trend towards commercial, higher-budget, major-friendly productions that began with the introduction of the Producer Offset.
On the other hand the other notable and positive trend, a counterbalance to the first, is the number of Australian films being theatrically released by indie distributors in an increasing number of foreign territories over the past five years. In some cases the box office performance has been creditable. This trend has accelerated in the past two years.
Bait 3D was the stand out Australian international hit of the year and, only released in the third quarter of the year, it has many territories still to play in 2013. It was highly successful in Italy, Russia, the UAE, China and Malaysia: territories where no indie Australian film since the late 1970s or early 1980s has made breakout numbers.
In Italy Medussa shrewdly went out on 164 screens directly after the film`s Venice Film Festival midnight premiere grossing $899,292 in the first week and moving to 189 screens over the course of the run for a total of $1,946,386. This is very impressive when you consider Legend of the Guardians (2010) with the full Warner Brother push on 275 screens made $2,225,361 and Daybreakers (2010) Sony only $765,830
.The UAE results through Gulf – $251,493 on 29 screens were hot – but not as hot as the astonishing $1,290,194 on 100 screens over 28 days in Malaysia. Thailand through M-Pictures took a strong $251,234 on 28 screens.
But the capper was China where a recut version with Chinese footage added scored $25,700,000 Yunan Film Group on 1700 screens over 56 days: the best performance ever by an Australian film in China, the biggest gross for any non-Hollywood release and the biggest horror film gross ever.
The massive and rapid increase in the number of new 3D equipped multiplexes in China, the co-production status of the film, the extra Chinese footage and the fact that Chinese audiences had never seen (in cinemas anyway) films like Jaws or The Poseidon Adventure all contributed to this astonishing result. And full credit to Arclight and Gary Hamilton and his Chinese connections for having the foresight to make this happen.
So far the only disappointments with Bait 3D in the export market have been the US, the Philippines and Poland but with major European and other territories to release in 2013, the Bait 3D story will continue to unfold.
A Few Best Men had highly successful releases in Italy and Spain and played Argentina, Austria, Belgium , Czech Republic , France , Germany, Hungary, New Zealand, Hungary Poland , Spain, Uruguay and the Netherlands.
Some new ground was broken here particularly given the general difficulty comedies have in travelling outside their home territory.
In Italy (US$2,667,525 – over 56 days) it out grossed for example, Daybreakers ($765,000) Brightstar ($1,032,000), Death Defying Acts ($1,700,000) and even Bait 3D ($1,926,281). Poland through ITI took an astonishing $659,576 (over 42 days on 47 screens). Australia, which Fox subbed in Poland through Cinepix, just managed US$110,683. Only Happy Feet 2 with $1,572,899 out-grossed, it but that was via Warner Bros. on 216 screens.
Dea Planeta in Spain on 127 screens over 42 days reached US $1,089,207. But the French (US$525,000), German ($504,840), UK numbers (£263,000 – one week only) and Netherlands ($77,305 on 25 screens) results were disappointing.
Iron Sky was the other Australian film to push out into multiple territories, including Germany, Austria, Finland, Russia, US, UK, Canada, Czech Republic, Thailand, Spain and New Zealand. The big breakout territory (not surprising given its co-production status) was Finland, where Disney/BVI managed an absolutely fantastic US$2,088,031 on 88 screens over 108 days (a very long run for Finland). In Germany Polyband scored US$4,177,454 – opening on 164 screens and building to 260 over 5 weeks.
On the other hand Iron Sky significantly under performed in Russia, the UK was an absolute catastrophe, the US bombed and Spain struggled.
But the underlying message is positive for indie film. Bait, A Few Best Men and Iron Sky all broke through in territories where Australian films had previously infrequently performed outside of the speciality circuits – if at all.
The biggies, on the other hand, failed to shine. The Sapphires disappointed in the UK with an opening week of $536,824 on 233 screens, though it did well in New Zealand and hopes are high for the US release. Red Dog’s UK opening week on 56 screens was a mere $39,262 and it totalled only $119,025. Mental’s UK performance was a disaster for the record books – $20,407 on 92 screens over one week – a per screen average of $222. How low can you go?
So what have we achieved internationally over six years? The combination of the Producer Offset, and Screen Australia’s endorsement of a range of genres and budgets, has refocussed the interest of international sales agents, international distributors and the majors on Australian product – helped as well by our talent breakouts in the US.
Our speciality titles, and our bigger budget mainstream titles, are being acquired and given theatrical releases in significant territories. With the exception of the few titles distributed worldwide by the majors, we have yet to achieve significant theatrical breakouts in key territories, Bait 3D being a very recent exception with China.
It is extraordinarily hard to predict what content – particularly content that has a nationalist flavour – will work outside of the home territory. No one could have foreseen the $80 million gross of Intouchables in Germany or the $373,000,000 worldwide gross of The King`s Speech. Part of it is luck or serendipity – but if we keep producing a blended output and focus at the higher budget end with exportable genres with high end cast, I believe there is considerable cause for optimism going forward.
Note: all figures quoted are $US theatrical box office only. For a full report on Australian Films: International Performance 2012 go to Screen Hub.
