22 01 2018 - Media release 2017 year in review and 2018 preview
L-to-R (top) Lion, War on Waste, (bottom) Superwog Series Pilot and Doctor Doctor series 2
FEATURE FILM Today the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (MPDAA) released the finalised 2017 box office figures, confirming Academy Award Best Picture nominee Lion was the top earning Australian film at the local box office, taking $29.5m. The result sees Lion go into the history books, becoming the 5th all-time biggest Australian film at the local box office, having propelled Australian films to a 4.1% share in 2017. Lion took $177.94m^ worldwide across 57 territories including Australia.
The top five Australian films at the local box office were rounded out by Red Dog: True Blue ($5.9m in addition to $1.6m taken in 2016), Jasper Jones ($2.7m), Dance Academy ($2.1m) and documentary Mountain ($2m).
Box Office: 2017 Top Ten Australian Films Title Release Date 2017 Gross Cum. Gross Strategy
Lion 19/01/2017 $29,464,072 $29,545,626 Wide
Red Dog: True Blue 26/12/2016 $5,950,186 $7,542,084 Wide
Jasper Jones 2/03/2017 $2,703,451 $2,703,451 Wide
Dance Academy 6/04/2017 $2,114,801 $2,114,801 Wide
Mountain 21/09/2017 $2,023,873 $2,023,873 Specialty
Ali's Wedding 31/08/2017 $1,399,897 $1,402,702 Specialty
Three Summers 2/11/2017 $792,809 $796,168 Mainstream
Hacksaw Ridge 3/11/2016 $689,489 $8,857,936 Wide
Don't Tell 18/05/2017 $409,946 $409,946 Speciality
Rip Tide 14/09/2017 $358,757 $358,757 Speciality
Note: Data courtesy of MPDAA. Blockbuster (400 prints), Wide (200-399 prints), Mainstream (100-199 prints), Speciality (20-99 prints), Limited (0-19 prints).
Collectively Australian films took $49.4m at the local box office in 2017. Screen Australia uses a stretch target of 4.5% box office share across a three-year rolling average, with 2017's result of 4.4% coming in just below that figure.
--
2017 was a great year for Australian film and Lion in particular deserved not only its critical success, but its commercial success, which was derived from a well-planned, global strategy, noted Graeme Mason, CEO of Screen Australia.
However, the decade-long trend of indie films being squeezed into smaller releases continues, resulting in these films earning less at the box office. In 2007, blockbusters took around 23% of the Australian box office, but ten years later they took over 50%.
That trend is even more apparent when you look at films playing on less than 200 screens, which in 2007 were jostling for a 33% share of the box office, but in 2017 they didn't even reach 14%. And it's not just Aussie films, but indie films from all countries that are feeling the pressure. For example, looking at the non-Australian Best Picture Oscar nominees in the period, you had Manchester by the Sea do $3.1m in Australia, Fences did $1.2m and the category winner Moonlight on $2.5m. All critically acclaimed, remarkable films doing significantly less box office than they would have a decade ago.
These are the new rules in which we must compete, so at Screen Australia we're not only looking for exceptional Australian stories, but stories with a considered path to audience at the cinema, and then beyond the cinema.
TELEVISION In terms of television, the combined 28-day consolidated 2017 TV ratings for metropolitan and regional areas reported by OzTAM and RegionalTAM confirm The Doctor Blake Mysteries telemovie Family Portrait (ABC) was the top rating Australian drama, closely followed by the Hoges: The Paul Hogan Story telemovie (Seven).
Notably Australian film on television remains popular, with The Dressmaker attracting 1.2 million viewers for its free to air debut.
Ratings: 2017 Top Ten Australian Dramas Title Network Ave. audience
(metro regional)
1 Doctor Blake Telemovie: Family Portrait ABC 1,600,000
2 Hoges: The Paul Hogan Story Seven 1,550,000
3 True Story with Hamish & Andy Nine 1,500,000
4 Doctor Blake Mysteries series 5 ABC 1,450,000
5 Utopia series 3 ABC 1,407,000
6 Doctor Doctor series 2 Nine 1,300,000
7 Home and Away Seven 1,230,000*
8 Blue Murder: Killer Cop Seven 1,210,000
9 House of Bond Nine 1,128,000
10 House Husbands series 5 Nine 1,127,000
Note: Full source notes at end of release. *28 day figures for episodes screening in Dec are not yet available so subject to change.
Screen Australia funded or has funded previous seasons of seven of the top ten Australian TV dramas.
It's encouraging to see Australian TV drama productions being so well received by local audiences, said Graeme Mason. We're also noting changes in the way people are consuming Australian stories. For instance the ABC's strategy of making the critically acclaimed series Seven Types of Ambiguity available to binge-view on the day of broadcast was rewarded, with over 100,000 views of each episode on iview.
TV documentary had a strong year with two Screen Australia-funded titles exceeding one million viewers. Special mention must go to War on Waste, which created a national discussion on the environmental impact of rubbish, and quite literally saw people ditching disposable coffee cups and major businesses phasing out plastic bags, said Graeme Mason.
Ratings: Top 5 Screen Australia-Funded Documentaries Due to complexities in the definition of documentary, only Screen Australia titles are reported here.
Title Network Ave. audience
(metro regional)
War On Waste (eps 1-4) ABC 1,275,000
David Stratton s Stories of Australian Cinema ABC 1,010,000
Stop Laughing...This Is Serious series 2 ABC 904,000
Ice Wars ABC 739,000
Making Muriel ABC 665,000
Note: Full source notes at end of release. War On Waste episode four was a follow-up to
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22 01 2018 - Media release 2017 year in review and 2018 preview 
