Aussie noir Swerve opens quietly as Prometheus tops box office with $6.8m
A new Australian film in limited release has opened quietly across just 16 screens.
Billed as Australian noir, Swerve had its world premiere at last year’s Melbourne International Film Festival and opened the Australian Film Festival in March.
Directed by Craig Lahiff and produced by Helen Leake the film took $24,487 at the box office for a $1,530 screen average.
The original strategy to be released in the USA through Cohen Media Group before Australia. In February Leake told Encore: “Our Australian market is so tricky I thought why not start overseas and bring it back home. We have to balance this tightrope really well and break through the little film syndrome.”
Set in the dusty country town of Neverest, around a suitcase full of cash, Swerve stars Jason Clarke, Emma Booth, Vince Colosimo, David Lyons and Roy Billing.
Swerve is unlikely to get a theatrical release in the US, despite what the article says above. The theatrical market in North America is absolutely swamped with studio films and local indies. Even solid films like Animal Kingdom have struggled to get any screens, with mediocre results. I think Swerve will probably get a small VOD & DVD release in the States (which is still good).
Aussie films don’t advertise or do PR enough. I never even heard of Animal Kingdom until about a year after it was released.