October has been an uneventful month for Australian films with a handful of new theatrical releases plus holdover business for the September debutantes.
Australian distributors will soon be offered new technology designed to more accurately predict the box office results for any film and to help them choose the most appropriate release dates.
A horror/thriller based on a 1986 Stephen King novel single-handedly lifted the cinema business out of a prolonged slump last weekend.
Variety critic Guy Lodge damned 'American Made' with faint praise, likening the "sweat-slicked, exhausting but glibly entertaining" CIA adventure starring Tom Cruise as the kind of film he could have made at almost any time in the last 30 years.
The Australian box office will emerge from a weak winter only 3 per cent down on last year’s record total.
Independent filmmakers who want their works of art to have the best chance of connecting with Australian cinema audiences could follow a few simple guidelines, based on an analysis of the films released this year.
Director-writer Christopher Nolan last week urged audiences to see 'Dunkirk' as a Hitchcockian suspense movie, not as a conventional, blood-and-guts war film.
The Dressmaker advanced to $15.2 million at Australian cinemas last weekend, propelling the total earnings of Australian films and feature documentaries released this year, plus holdovers, past $84 million.