The 2017 Australian film industry box office statistics were announced yesterday, with Beauty and the Beast, Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Thor: Ragnarok officially the most successful movies of the year. The Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (MPDAA) say its statistics “confirm another successful year for Australian cinema box office.”
While The Last Jedi hit second spot, rather than first, it is worth noting that the film (released mid-December) achieved its figure of $45.54m in only two weeks. It is still going strong at the box office now.
Beauty and the Beast was the number one movie of the year, grossing $47.95m. The remaining spots in the top five were Thor: Ragnarok ($35.1m), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($32.94m) and Despicable Me 3 ($32.93m).
The total box office tally, for all films combined, was $1,201,343,000. Australian films accounted for $49.4m. The Australian films that grossed more than $2m at the local box office were Lion, Red Dog: True Blue (released on Boxing Day 2016), Jasper Jones, Dance Academy and Mountain.
The MPDAA also reported that:
“A 2017 research study by Screen Audience Research Australia showed that 75% of Australians go to the cinema at least 5 times a year with 58% saying they are ‘very engaged’ when watching movies in cinemas, far higher than the 29% engagement claimed while watching films via SVOD.”
Here are the top ten films at the local box office in 2017:
And the top ten films of 2016:
