ADVERTISEMENT

Box office: Van Diemen’s Land opens with $60,354

By Adam Coleman

Jonathan auf der Heide‘s dark gothic tale, Van Diemen’s Land, has taken $60,354 since opening at the box office last Thursday.

Based on the infamous confessions of notorious Australian convict Alexander Pearce, Van Diemen’s Land opened on nine screens over the weekend for a respectable screen average of $4,438.

Stone Bros. – Australia’s first indigenous comedy – also opened last Thursday across 24 screens, taking $22,702 on its opening weekend for a disappointing screen average of $946.

The film received $2.2 million in production funding from the Film Finance Corporation (now Screen Australia) and $600,000 from ScreenWest, according to those agency’s annual reports.

Writer/director of the stoner road movie, Richard Frankland has been heavily critical of the Classification Review Board’s decision to give Stone Bros. a MA15+ rating.

In its fourth week, road movie Charlie & Boots is fast approaching the $3 million mark and rapidly gaining on Samson and Delilah at the top of the box office.    

Ana Kokkinos’ disturbing family drama, Blessed has taken $56,300 on its third weekend at the box office for a screen average of $3,345.

The total box office takings for local releases is $15,989,716.



Film  Budget   Distributor   Opening w/e  Weeks  Box Office 
Samson and Delilah  $1.6m   Para/Trans/Footprint   $        199,163 21  $    3,170,217
Charlie & Boots  $9m est.   Paramount/Transmission   $        809,279 4  $    2,957,273
Mary and Max  $8m   Icon   $          217,176 15  $      1,444,617
Beautiful Kate  $6m   Roadshow   $        273,582 8  $    1,431,219
Disgrace  $10m   Icon   $        209,014 13  $    1,164,442
Balibo  $4.5m   Para/Trans/Footprint   $        206,290 7  $    1,131,759
My Year Without Sex  $3.8m   Para/Trans/Footprint   $        177,522 18  $    1,125,410
Love the Beast    Madman   $          241,982 9  $          777,351
The Combination  $1.169m   AFS   $          188,054 11  $          727,586
Last Ride  $4m   Madman   $            76,459 10  $          364,238
Wake in Fright  $  700,000  Madman   $          25,446 14  $        304,329
Two Fists, One Heart  $8.5m   BVI   $            96,999 2  $          295,500
Blessed  $4m   Icon   $          67,186 3  $        274,061
Cedar Boys  $1.36m   Hoyts/Mushroom   $            74,793 5  $          204,160
Subdivision  $4m est.   BVI   $            86,649 3  $          190,500
Van Diemen’s Land    Madman   $          39,939 1  $          60,354
Beautiful  $2m   Kojo/Jump Street   $            22,406 6  $            55,619
Closed for Winter  $2m   Omnilab Media   $            19,449 6  $            53,370
Shadows of the Past  $    820,000  Summer Night   $            13,927 11  $            45,490
Bastardy  $    260,000  Film Camp   $              7,822 8  $            37,570
The Marriage of Figaro  $  400,000  Figaro Films/ For Pete’s Sake Productions   $          13,693 2  $          32,584
Lake Mungo    Darclight films   $              9,730 5  $            29,850
Lucky Country  $2m est.   Para/Trans/Footprint   $            11,413 4  $            26,141
Stone Bros.    Australian Film Syndicate   $          22,702 1  $          22,702
The Burning Season    Gil Scrine/Freshwater   $              3,848 5  $            21,017
The Chifleys of Busby St    Ronin   $              3,760    $            13,658
Crush  $2m   Filmscope/Odin’s Eye   $              8,304 1  $            13,051
Three Blind Mice    Odin’s Eye/Titan View   $              2,988 3  $              7,416