2016 Year in Review and 2017 Preview

FEATURE FILM Monday 23 January: Today the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (MPDAA) released the finalised 2016 box offices figures, confirming Hacksaw Ridge was the highest earning Australian film, taking $8.2m in the calendar year. As of 23 January 2017, Rentrak reports the film has taken $205m globally, including an incredible $77m in China alone. Australian films took $24m at the local box office in 2016, equating to a 3.8% three-year rolling average share, below Screen Australia’s stretch target of 4.5% - a result which was expected in a year that included international juggernauts like Finding Dory and Star Wars. Along with Hacksaw Ridge, summer has proved a busy time for Australian film, with RED DOG: True Blue bringing in $6.9m locally as of 23 January 2017. Lion, which has already made $28m overseas since premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, earned $748,805 on its opening day alone (19 January 2017) in Australia and has become the fifth highest earning opening weekend Australian film at the local box office, taking more than $5m.

“The popularity and critical success of Australian screen content both locally and overseas is a tribute to the exceptional talent of our local industry which we now know is worth $3 billion a year,” said Graeme Mason, CEO of Screen Australia.

“The mix of stories told demonstrates how globally-facing our industry has become, with Australians just as capable of telling a blockbuster war drama like Hacksaw Ridge as an offbeat comedy like Girl Asleep. It’s also

MEDIA RELEASE becoming common that even our smaller films will reach an overseas audience, such as The Daughter which played at an outstanding five international festivals, including Venice and Toronto, came in third at the local box office (despite opening on just 52 screens), and ended up taking 29% of its 2016 box office overseas.”

“Undoubtedly timing played a big part in 2016’s box office result, with Lion being released overseas before it was released in Australia and RED DOG: True Blue only in cinemas for six days in 2016. The fact Lion went to number one on its first day in Australian cinemas is a fantastic result, kicking off a year that includes hotly anticipated titles like Jasper Jones and Simon Baker’s directorial debut in Breath.”

Also noteworthy is that of the 12 documentaries released in 2016, three now rank in the top 10 grossing Australian documentaries (excluding IMAX) of all time - Sherpa, Embrace and Chasing Asylum, all directed by women.

2017 is on track to be a busy year for Australian film with titles including Jasper Jones, Breath, Sweet Country, Three Summers, Cargo, Flammable Children, The Nightingale, Hotel Mumbai and Jennifer Peedom’s (Sherpa) new documentary Mountain all expected to hit cinemas. Also due for release is documentary Casting JonBenet and feature film Berlin Syndrome, which have both recently been acquired by Netflix, and are among the Australian selections for the prestigious Sundance Film Festival this month, with Casting JonBenet also screening at Berlin International Film Festival in February.

TELEVISION

Combined 28-day consolidated TV ratings figures for metropolitan and regional areas reported by OzTAM and RegionalTAM show the five highest rating Australian dramas on free-to-air television for 2016 each attracted an average of 1.5 million viewers or more across the entire series. These included Molly (Seven) with an audience of almost 3 million (metro, 2 million), followed by Wanted (Seven) at 1.9m (metro, 1.2m), The Doctor Blake Mysteries series 4 (ABC) at 1.7m (metro, 1.1m), The Secret Daughter (Seven) at 1.6m (metro, 1m) and Doctor Doctor (Nine) attracting 1.5 million viewers (metro,965,000).

“At a time when there has never been more choice available across free-to-air, catch-up platforms, subscription television and streaming services, the fact that each of the top five Australian television dramas were watched by at least 1.5 million people is an exceptional result,” said Graeme Mason. “Despite exponential growth in the volume and availability of overseas content, the appetite for home-grown stories is only increasing.”

Following a record year for Australian television drama in 2015-16, which saw 58 titles in production, audiences can look forward to an abundance of Australian shows in 2017. In this year’s crop there will be a

Media enquiries: Claire Frost Twitter LinkedIn (02) 8113 5833 | 0411 475 551 | [email protected] www.screenaustralia.gov.au Facebook Instagram - 1 -

host of biopics including Hoges: The Paul Hogan Story (Seven), Blue Murder: Killer Cop (Seven), House of

Bond (Nine) and as yet untitled works on Olivia Newton John (Seven) and Shane Warne (Seven). The Wrong Girl (Ten), The Secret Daughter (Seven), Cleverman (ABC), The Family Law (SBS) and Top of the Lake (Foxtel) will all make welcome returns with second seasons, and the iconic Wake in Fright (Ten) and Picnic at Hanging Rock (Foxtel) will be reimagined for television. Hotly anticipated documentaries including Ice Wars (ABC), Filthy Rich and Homeless (SBS) and My Year 12 Life (ABC) will also hit screens.

DIGITAL ORIGINALS

Digital originals continue to be core to Screen Australia’s business with the likes of Aunty Donna’s 1999 becoming Skip Ahead’s most-viewed project ever with almost 2.4 million views. Several digital brands saw their work transferred to television in 2016, including The Katering Show season 2 (the most watched ABC iview original ever), Starting From Now and Wizards of Aus.

Production values also continue to increase, with comedies like Little Acorns, Bruce, Fancy Boy and Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am being stand-outs in 2016, while Australian online talent including The Racka Racka (3.5 million subscribers) and SketchShe (850,000 subscribers) forge global careers.

“Although the four-year Multiplatform Fund that has fuelled our digital content to date ends in June 2017, we are looking at ways to ensure this game-changing Australian product can continue,” said Graeme Mason. “Australia has found itself in the position of being a world-leader in digital originals and this breeding ground of talent and ideas is essential in propelling us in a market where the line between film, television and online video continue to blur.” MEDIA RELEASE BEYOND SCREEN

2016 was a busy year for Screen Australia research and special funding, led by the $5 million Gender Matters initiative, which broke records for the most applications received and the most projects funded in a single day. Programs funded through Gender Matters have gone on to achieve their own milestones, with Endemol Shine Australia’s Brilliant Careers opportunity for female TV writers (‘ROAR’) receiving 935 applications for 12 positions.

The research report on diversity in television entitled Seeing Ourselves stimulated frank discussion within the industry, and signs of change are now emerging, with SBS’s partnering with state screen agencies being a notable example.

The launch of the landmark Screen Currency report, which quantified the cultural and economic value of the Australian screen industry for the first time, rounded out 2016.

2017 will see a Gender Matters progress report as Screen Australia progresses towards its gender targets. The release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics screen industry survey is scheduled for June and a report on 10 years of the Producer Offset will be released later in the year.

In terms of special funding, Screen Australia has already announced new opportunities for creatives from diverse backgrounds (Seeing Ourselves: Developing the Developer) and two new funding schemes for Indigenous producers and creators of digital originals. The hugely successful Enterprise program will also be revised for 2017. Further information will be announced via the Screen Australia e-newsletter.

DATA CREDITS

• Box office: Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (Australian) and Rentrak (global) • Television ratings: OzTAM and RegionalTAM, 5-city-metro, combined markets, total people, average audience, 28-day consolidated. Metropolitan data is copyright to OzTAM and Regional data is copyright to RegionalTAM and may not be reproduced, published or communicated in whole or part without the prior consent of OzTAM or RegionalTAM. • Box office and ratings figures have been rounded to one decimal place.

Please credit as per above when quoting figures.

Media enquiries: Claire Frost Twitter LinkedIn (02) 8113 5833 | 0411 475 551 | [email protected] www.screenaustralia.gov.au Facebook Instagram - 2 -