Robert Connolly and Eric Bana Reteam on Eco-Fable Blueback
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Director Robert Connolly (“Balibo”) and star Eric Bana (“Hanna,” “Hulk), both currently riding high at the Australian box office with “The Dry,” will reunite on “Blueback,” a film billed as a family-friendly, ecologically activist celebration of the natural world.
Connolly has been developing the project for more than two decades. At one stage it was envisaged that actor-director Rowan Woods (“The Boys”) would direct the adaptation.
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The film is now moving into production with filming set in two of the remotest places on the continent: Bremer Bay and Ningaloo Reef, in West Australia. Roadshow Films will release the picture in Australia and New Zealand, and the U.K.’s HanWay Films will handle rights sales in all other territories.
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The global pandemic caused the Australian cinema box office to crash by almost 70 per cent last year, according to the trade body for film distributors.
Figures released by the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia show that ticket sales fell from $1.2 billion to $401 million because of cinema closures and capacity restrictions. Other factors included the postponement of major movies and public health concerns when cinemas re-opened.
Top of the box office last year: Jack Black and Karen Gillan in Jumanji: The Next Level.
Credit:Sony
The yearâs highest-grossing movie was Hollywoodâs
Jumanji: The Next Level which took $28 million. That was after opening with $18.7 million at the end of the previous year.
Screen Australia’s CEO Graeme Mason said the commercial success of The Dry was a heartening start to the year.
“It’s one of those titles that comes along where Australians see themselves and respond incredibly well,” he said.
“We have one or two of them a year and I think The Dry is definitely one of them. And it’s the first time in a very long time Australia has had the No 1 and No 2 films at the box office.”
A still from The Dry, which had the fifth-highest opening day for a local film, despite many cinemas operating at less than full capacity due to Covid restrictions. Photograph: Roadshow
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