The Australian films and feature documentaries released this year are set to surpass $80 million in B.O. receipts next week, an all-time record in dollars.
Through last Sunday, the total including holdovers from previous years was $76.5 million, according to the MPDAA.
As IF reported, the previous all-time box office record of $63.4 million set in 2001 was broken in early October.
Buoyed by exceptionally strong word of mouth, The Dressmaker collected $3.06 million in its second weekend, down a mere 3 per cent, boosting its earnings to $8.26 million.
Playing so broadly, Jocelyn Moorhouse’s film is unlikely to take a significant hit from Spectre, which opens on Thursday. The Universal release produced by Sue Maslin looks capable of reaching $20 million.
With such an upside for The Dressmaker and modest contributions from Oddball ($10.6 million after eight weekends) and Alex & Eve ($324,000 after three weekends), the calendar year total could go close to $90 million.
Produced by WTFN's Richard Keddie and Steve Kearney and directed by Stuart McDonald, Oddball is closing in on Happy Feet 2 ($10.69 million) on the list of biggest Australian grossers.
The MPDAA’s tally does not include Strangerland, which had a short theatrical release after its Sydney Film Festival premiere and grossed $100,000, according to Transmission.
Last month the market share of Australian films was running at about 6.8 per cent. In 2001 the market share was 7.8 per cent.
The all-time peak was 23.5 per cent in 1986, the year of Crocodile Dundee and Malcolm.