By Simon de Bruyn
Despite a lack of support from exhibitors, low budget croc thriller Black Water has had a strong opening, taking just over $17,000 on three
Darwin
According to box office figures from the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia, Black Water took $17,200 – or $5,730 per screen – in the four days to Sunday.
Its Australian theatrical run follows a very limited
UK
release, during which it received strong reviews for its realism and thrills. Likewise it has enjoyed good reviews in Australia.
Black Water co-director Andrew Traucki told Inside Film it was a disappointment the film had not been picked up wider yet, despite a range of strong reviews and a known genre fanbase.
co-director Andrew Traucki told it was a disappointment the film had not been picked up wider yet, despite a range of strong reviews and a known genre fanbase.
“It is hard for Australian genre films to do well as there is no exhibition space for them. The smaller exhibitors only want arthouse films and the big ones don’t see it competing with the big
US
releases,” he said.
“We are financing our next film at the moment and the first thing we’re going to do is find a distributor who can put it on screens.”
All Interactive Entertainment is distributing the film, as their first theatrical release.
In other box office news, The Black Balloon has taken $1.96m in eight weeks while Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger has taken $843,000 in its five weeks.
Broken Sun also opened at
Sydney
’s Orpheum cinema last weekend, doing modest business on two screens.