LORD OF THE RINGS - AUSTRALIA LOOKING FOR OVERSEAS SUCCESS

AUSTRALIA LOOKING FOR OVERSEAS SUCCESS

Twentieth Century Fox is hoping that Australia follows the same trajectory as Baz Luhrmann's previous film, Moulin Rouge! , which had so-so sales in the U.S. but performed well at the international box office, the Sydney Morning Herald reported today (Thursday). The movie, which cost $130 million to make, has taken in only $44.3 million domestically but has earned $46 million overseas ($16 million in Australia) It opened in first place in Spain, France and Germany last weekend. The SMH quoted a studio spokesman as saying that Fox will receive a 40-percent "refund" of the film's cost through a government subsidy program. Meanwhile, Australia is continuing to take a drubbing from film critics in their end-of-the-year round-ups. In the San Francisco Chronicle, critic Mike LaSalle listed it as "worst film of the year," calling it "a rollicking, rip-roaring bore with obvious special effects, cringe-inducing moments of fake tenderness and a start-and-stop narrative that had more endings than the third Lord of the Rings movie."

01/01/2009