Majestic Cinemas CEO Kieren Dell calls it “an absolute upside surprise”, noting it was always going to be popular with regional audiences but found it was “doing well from the very first session and especially during the weekdays, which is great counter programming.” “The journey is connecting with audiences,” he says. Wallis Cinemas programming manager David Simpson described the film as “a sensation”. “Great to see such a fantastic documentary break out and become such a crowd-pleasing commercial success which is a true testament to how Sony have handled the film, including releasing the film at the perfect time,” says GM Alex Temesvari. The Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace in Sydney was the no. “Given that word of mouth for Finding the Voice is likely to be strong and older audiences are traditionally slower to catch-on to local titles that appeal, the film should leg-out to a result of $3 million or more,” he predicts. “It goes to show there is significant interest from the general public in these iconic Australia artists hopefully the results will spur production of more of these documentaries in the future,” he tells IF.Ĭinema Nova CEO Kristian Connelly echoes the sentiment, reflecting the film is playing best at ‘mainstream’ suburban locations, “showing that as with past local hits including The Dry, Lion, Ride Like A Girl and Rams, the office potential appeal of accessible, broad-appeal releases is relatively untapped.” Village Cinemas national programming manager Geoff Chard notes the film doubled the opening weekend of 2018’s Jimmy Barnes doc Working Class Boy which opened to $440k and went on to take $820k lifetime, and is far ahead of last year’s Lee Kernaghan: Boy From The Bush which took $270k lifetime. Let’s get him on to the single cinema screen in. “We said, ‘Well, look, let’s take it wide.’ He’s probably played in every single little RSL, pub and workers club in all these towns. So we had a film that was genuinely appealing to not only all ages in some respects, but in all demographics and in all areas of Australia,” Basil-Jones says. We knew that his popularity was not just big city, but it was regional, country and everywhere. “There’s been a generation after generation that’s known something about John Farnham. In terms of release strategy, Sony was always aware that Farnham could reach a wide audience, having been a household name in Australia for decades. “The film is, as far as I’m concerned, one of the best documentaries I’ve seen, and it just happens to be Australian,” Basil-Jones says. Farnham is part of the Sony family, so it as been a passion project for the Sony team, but also a “great marriage” with producers Beyond Entertainment. Stephen Basil-Jones, Sony Pictures EVP ANZ, tells IF he is incredibly proud to have been involved with the film he knew from rough cut that they were on to something special. With Finding the Voice, only seven Australian documentaries have made over that number since 2018 (though Madman’s Giants is getting close to that mark). In 2022, no Australian documentary made over $350,000 theatrically and only nine made over $100,000.Īt the Australian International Documentary conference earlier this year, Madman Entertainment CEO Paul Wiegard reflected 2022 had been “terrible” for feature docs, noting the stark commercial reality that a distributor struggles to make revenue on a film that makes below $500,000. Carey’s Concert ($1.16 million), Embrace ($1.18 million) and Sherpa ($1.2 million) in the coming days.įinding the Voice‘s success comes after a difficult period for local feature documentaries at the box office. Sony announced the film will pass $1.15 million today, meaning it will overtake the lifetime result of Mystify: Michael Hutchence ($1.14 million) to become the 10th biggest local documentary of all time. With previews, it finished at $1.13 million by Sunday’s end. 3 behind Fast X and Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3. The doc bowed over the weekend to $818,888, landing at no. Sony took big swing with the film, releasing it on 287 screens over the weekend after a strong Mother’s Day preview campaign.Īn authorised doc, Finding the Voice canvasses John Farnham’s life from the days of Sadie the Cleaning Lady in the ’60s, his career highs and lows in its wake, through to his record-breaking success with single You’re the Voice and 1986 album Whispering Jack – still the highest selling Australian album of all time. Poppy Stockell’s John Farnham: Finding the Voice is already on a path to becoming one of the highest grossing Australian documentaries of all time.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |