The 69th Australian International Movie Convention (Jupiters Hotel & Casino on Queensland’s Gold Coast October 12-16) will showcase a diverse range of films ahead of what industry pundits forecast will be a strong box office year.
The AIMC is hosted annually by NACO (National Association of Cinema Operators-Australasia). NACO Executive Director, Michael Hawkins says the convention, which has become a valuable annual industry event for the Australian, NZ and Pacific region, looks forward to welcoming Australia’s major and independent distributors to present their upcoming product slates to the decision makers who program cinemas large and small.
The major Hollywood distribution companies of Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Releasing, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal Pictures, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Warner Bros. will present previews and footage from films scheduled for release in late 2014 and 2015 release.
“We will be off to a good start as the AIMC Opening Night hosts the Australian Premiere of the Universal-distributed Working Title film ‘The Theory of Everything’, says Mr Hawkins.
“Over the four and a half days of the convention, our delegates will get to enjoy a cross-section of what we hope will be a bumper crop of films for the coming year”.
Sony Pictures Releasing will screen ‘Fury’, starring Brad Pitt as a battle-hardened army sergeant named Wardaddy who commands a Sherman tank and her five-man crew on a deadly mission behind enemy lines as the Allies make their final push in the European Theatre in April, 1945. Outnumbered and outgunned, Wardaddy and his men face overwhelming odds in their heroic attempts to strike at the heart of Nazi Germany.
John Jarratt will present the first sneak peek of his upcoming film in a presentation titled ‘From Wolf Creek to Stalkher’, with the latter billed as an “inappropriately funny, dark, romantic thriller” from OZPIX Entertainment & Backlot Films. John Jarratt will be joined by his ‘Stalkher’ co-director and fellow lead actor Kaarin Fairfax and Alan Finney, the Executive Producer, to offer a unique insight into Australia’s own ‘Misery meets Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’
The Australian Independent Distributors Association (AIDA) will have product presentations and movie screenings throughout the four days of the convention, including Dan Gilroy’s crime drama, ‘Nightcrawler’, about a young man who stumbles upon the underground world of L.A. freelance crime journalism, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, and ‘Love is Strange’, a drama starring John Lithgow, Alfred Molina and Marisa Tomei.
AIDA member companies include Becker Film Group, Curious Film, Entertainment One Films, Icon Film Distributors, Madman Entertainment, Palace Films, Pinnacle Films, Potential Films, Sharmill Films, Studio Canal, Rialto Distribution and Umbrella Films.
Comedy is a box office staple and AIMC delegates will have the opportunity to see ‘Dumb and Dumber To’, in which Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels reprise their signature roles as Lloyd and Harry in the sequel to the smash hit which “took physical comedy and kicked it in the nuts”. The original film’s directors, Peter and Bobby Farrelly, take Lloyd and Harry on a road trip to find a child Harry never knew he had and the responsibility neither should ever, ever be given.
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures will screen ‘Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day’, which follows the exploits of 11-year-old Alexander (Ed Oxenbould) as he experiences the most terrible and horrible day of his young life – a day that begins with gum stuck in his hair, followed by one calamity after another. The film also stars Jennifer Garner and Steve Carell as Alexander’s parents.
Paramount Pictures will screen ‘Top Five’, written, directed by, and starring Chris Rock, which tells the story of New York City comedian-turned-film star Andre Allen, whose unexpected encounter with a journalist (Rosario Dawson) forces him to confront the comedy career—and the past—that he's left behind. The film stars Chris Rock, Rosario Dawson, Kevin Hart, Tracy Morgan, Cedric The Entertainer, J.B. Smoove, Sherri Shepherd, Anders Holm, Romany Malco, Leslie Jones, Michael Che and Jay Pharoah.
Michael Hawkins says some of the distributors have yet to announce the films they will be screening at this year’s AIMC.
“Plenty of scope for some last-minute surprises this year”.