Luhrmann takes over British telly for movie launch
The launch of the Australia movie in the UK is to be accompanied by a near-unprecedented marketing drive with director Baz Luhrmann taking over entire ad breaks on the Film4 channel.
The film, and its associated marketing push, is a major hope for Australia’s tourism industry. Tourism Australia officials believe that even if it is not a smash hit, there is still enormous value for the country in the fact that a huge marketing drive has taken place.
The movie opened slowly in America, doing a respectable, but not stellar US$20m in its opening weekend. It has since clocked up around US38$m in the US and $20m here in Australia.
However, the film’s distributors will not be expecting a smooth ride int he UK ahead of the Boxing Day opening. Overnight the Guardian newspaper published a polemical piece from Germaine Greer deriding the film.
During the push on Film4, Luhrmann will introduce the various television ads he’s been invovled in, including Nicole Kidman for Chanel and the new Tourism Australia ad.