News

Box office up 15 percent in 2009

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood PrinceAustralian box office takings rose by 15% last year according to new figures from the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince taking the top spot, and Mao’s Last Dancer the most successful local title.

Takings rose from $945 million in 2008 to $1.09 billion last year. However,  the box office total represents 84.6m admissions, still well below from the country’s historic high of 92.5m in 2001 and 2002.  

Twentieth Century Fox, Roadshow Films and Paramount Pictures had the best year out of all the local distributors, with two films in the top 10 each and more than $60m just from those titles.

Four entries in the top 10 were sequels, three were animated and five of them screened in 3D – and with premium ticket prices, obtained higher earnings than their 2D counterparts.

Always a top performer, the sixth entry in the Harry Potter (Roadshow) saga earned $40.6 million, closely followed by Transformers: Rise of the Fallen (Paramount) with $40.3.

James Cameron’s Avatar (Twentieth Century Fox) came third with $38.8 million, although this figure only covers the film’s first 15 days of release (Dec 17-31). It has now made more than $79.2  million, becoming Australia’s highest grossing film of all time.

Only one of the top 10 was an independent film, Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire (Icon).

Locally, Mao’s Last Dancer (Roadshow) had an outstanding performance with $14.9, followed by Charlie & Boots (Paramount) with $3.8m.

Top 10 films of 2009:

  1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Roadshow), $40.6m
  2. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Paramount), $40.3m
  3. Avatar (Twentieth Century Fox), $38.8m
  4. New Moon (Hoyts), $37m
  5. Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (Twentieth Century Fox), $29.8m
  6. Up (Disney), $28m
  7. The Hangover (Roadshow), $21.4m
  8. Monsters vs. Aliens (Paramount), $20.9m
  9. 2012 (Sony), $20.1m
  10. Slumdog Millionaire (Icon), $18.9m
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