Runt, the WA-made Australian family film about a girl and her dog who try to save the farm, has passed $5.5 million at the Australian box office. This makes Runt the third highest grossing locally made film of 2024, after Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga ($10.22m) and Force of Nature: The Dry 2 ($7.31m). Figures are collected by Numero.
Runt: grossing
Released on 19 September and distributed by Studiocanal on 280 screens, Runt has been in cinemas for 5 weeks, including, crucially, the September school holidays, and as of 20 October the film had grossed $5,518,409 though momentum is slowing.
ScreenHub review of Runt: Runt is rollicking family fun
Runt: number 68
As calculated by IF Magazine, this makes Runt, based on Craig Silvey’s novel, and directed by John Sheedy (H is for Happiness), the 68th most successful local film of all time and the eleventh most popular local family film of all time – in a list headed up by Babe (1995, $$36,797,861), Happy Feet (2006, $31,786,593), Peter Rabbit (2018, $26,794,641) and that other beloved live action dog film, Red Dog (2011, $21,485,833).
Blinky Bill The Movie, another StudioCanal kids’ film, in currently in fourth place, having grossed $2.9 million.
It’s been an extremely tough year for Australian films in cinemas, as bemoaned by many, including Dov Kornits so eloquently here. Few Australian films have cracked the $200,000 mark in 2024, let alone the $1 million. For comparison, the top grossing Hollywood films on our screens this year include Disney’s Deadpool and Wolverine, which grossed more than $67 million, and Inside Out 2, which made more than $50 million.
Australian films are currently sitting well below the long-term average of about 4-5% of the total box office, though hopes will be high for a last quarter surge with films including the spectacular-looking Robbie Williams biopic, Better Man (Roadshow) on Boxing Day.
Kids and older folk remain key audiences for the traditional cinema experience, borne out by the fact that the fifth highest grossing local film of 2024 so far is Bill Bennett’s mature-age Camino-trail story, The Way, My Way (Maslow Entertainment), which with a long run of boutique Q&A touring over 19 week has grossed more than $1.8 million in Australia and more than $2 million in Aus/NZ.
See also: Best Australian films still to come in 2024
The Moogai (Causeway Films, 31 October)
THE MOOGAI
Horror, First Nations
Writer-director: Jon Bell
Producers: Kristina Ceyton, Samantha Jennings, Mitchell Stanley
Stars: Shari Sebbens, Meyne Wyatt, Tessa Rose
Synopsis: A malicious spirit enters the home of a young Indigenous couple with a newborn baby and the mother must protect them at any cost. Based on his award-winning short of the same name, writer-director Jon Bell’s striking feature debut arrives from SXSW, Sundance, SFF and MIFF.
ScreenHub: The Moogai SFF review: beware the boogeyman
Audrey (Rialto, 7 November)
AUDREY
Comedy drama
Director: Natalie Bailey
Writer: Lou Sanz
Producers: Diya Eid, Dan Lake, Shannon Wilson-McClinton, Michael Wrenn
Cast: Jackie van Beek, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, Josephine Blazier, Hannah Diviney
Synopsis: A dramedy following self-appointed Mother of the Year, Ronnie Lipsick, who is living a life she never wanted, with a derailed career, a husband whose love for life has gone limp and two daughters who she struggles to connect with. When an accident lands her eldest daughter Audrey in a coma, Ronnie gets a second chance at life by taking on her daughter’s identity – only she’s not the only one in the family who sees Audrey’s comatose state as an opportunity.
NOVEMBER
The Pool (Madman, 7 November)
Documentary feature
Director: Ian Darling
Producers: Ian Darling, Mary Macrae
The Pool Synopsis: Bondi Icebergs is the most photographed pool in the world. For nearly a century this spectacular 50 metre stretch of sparkling blue at the southern end of Bondi Beach has occupied a special corner in the hearts of millions. Icebergs is at once a meeting place, a resting place, a workout place and a place of romance and ritual. We come to understand that for those who seek it out, and return, it is a symbol of inclusivity, healing and resilience.
Aquarius (Madman, 14 November)
Documentary feature
Director: Wendy Champagne
Producer: Sam Griffin
Synopsis: The story of a radical 10-day Festival in 1973 held in the northern NSW town of Nimbin, where the participants face down police interference, internal chaos, drugs and personal drama to create a living blueprint for survival on earth.
