The US debut of John Curran’s Tracks has been postponed- for four months.
The Outback adventure starring Mia Wasikowska as “camel girl” Robyn Davidson was originally dated for May 23.
But The Weinstein Co, which bought the US rights after its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, has shifted the date to September 19.
Date changes are not unusual but it may be that TWC has revised its expectations in light of the film’s box-office results in Australia and several major territories.
The film chronicling Davidson’s 2,700 km trek across the Australian outback in 1977 has grossed $2.38 million in Australia.
According to Box Office Mojo, Tracks has earned $US726,000 after its fifth weekend in Germany, $610,000 after its third in the UK and $311,000 in two weekends in Italy. The film went out on a fairly wide 80, 55 and 79 screens respectively.
Screen Australia head of marketing Kathleen Drumm tells IF that the US distributor’s “strategic assessment of the marketplace led TWC to move to a date that they think is best for the film. We see this sort of thing happening all the time as the competitive release schedules line up in Australia and internationally.”
See-Saw Films' Emile Sherman and Iain Canning, who produced Tracks, have hired Kiwi producer Rachel Gardner to beef up their Sydney office. They worked with Gardner on Slow West, Scottish director John MacLean's 19th century Western starring Michael Fassbender, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Ben Mendelsohn that was shot in New Zealand.
"We wanted someone we would enjoy working with and who has the energy and drive to do the number of projects we do, and we have had a fantastic experience working with Rachel on Slow West,” Sherman told Screen Daily.