Our country’s love of films — both making them and watching them — dates back to the late 1800’s when the very first movie theatre opened in Sydney.
Opening at 237 Pitt St in 1896, the Salon Lumière drew eager crowds and ignited a passion for cinema that would see Australia go on to release the world’s first-ever feature film just ten years later.
By the 1920s, cinema was the most popular form of entertainment for Aussies, especially when "talking pictures" arrived in 1927.
Since 2017, cinema has generated $1.2 billion+ in average annual turnover and employed around 13,000 Australians nationally. Even taking the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic into account, the total box office tally for 2020 was $401 million - proving that Aussies still had a huge appetite for seeing the latest releases on the big screen.
On the filmmaking front, Australia is known for its professional crews, generous tax incentives and a wide variety of locations, making it an attractive hub for international productions. While blockbusters such as The Matrix, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Thor: Love and Thunder have all been filmed on our shoes, Australian ideas and content is respected all over the world. In fact, since the Academy Awards started in 1929, Aussies have been nominated for 184 Oscars and have won 58.
Our industry is one that not only generates more than one billion dollars in production revenue annually, but it creates around 20,000 and with a favourable gender balance, at that, with 55% of people employed full time in the industry identifying as female.
The Australian film industry also makes a significant contribution to the economy, with 2016 estimates placing its annual contribution to GDP at over $3 billion. According to Screen Australia, in 2014-15 alone, it generated $725 million in tourism expenditure.
With Marvel Studios set to make Sydney home for the next five years, and the number of productions that are scheduled to be filmed in Australia, the country only looks to set to further prove how talented our creatives are and why our stories deserve to be told on the world stage.
First Aussie cinema, the Salon Lumière, opens on Pitt St,
Australia produces the world’s first feature-length film - The Story of the Kelly Gang. It goes on to make £25,000 against its £1,000 budget
the first colour films were exhibited in Australia. These short films showing Australian scenery and industries were shot by the US-based National Colour Kinematograph Company using its patented Kinemacolor technology
Cinema is the most popular form of entertainment in Australia. In fact, it makes the largest contribution to entertainment tax receipts in that year, with 68 million admissions
“Talking Cinema” comes to Australia
Australia now has 1,334 cinemas, all of them wired for sound. Australia was one of the first countries in the world to fully adopt sound.
Ken G. Hall became the first Australian to win an Academy Award for his documentary Kokoda Front Line! in the Best Documentary category
More and more Australians turn to the cinema as a means of escapism during WW2 with the number of admissions rising from less than 102 million to 151 million
Charles Chauvel’s Jedda was the first Australian feature to be shot and released in colour.
Australia is now the third most important market for US films after the UK and France
Peter Finch becomes the first Aussie actor to be awarded an Oscar posthumously, winning the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Network
Suzanne Baker was the first Australian woman to win an Oscar - for Best Animated Short for Leisure.
Mad Max is released
Crocodile Dundee is released - it goes on to be the most successful Aussie film at the Global Box Office
Dean Semler wins Best Cinematographer for Dances With Wolves
Strictly Ballroom released
The Piano
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Muriel’s Wedding released
John Seale wins Best Cinematographer for The English Patient
Geoffrey Rush, Academy Award for Best Actor in Shine
The Castle released
Chopper is released
Moulin Rogue is released
Andrew Lesnie wins Best Cinematographer for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Rabbit Proof Fence is released
Nicole Kidman wins Academy Award for Best Actress for The Hours (the first Australian to win Best Actress)
Adam Elliot wins Oscar for Best Animated Short Film Harvie Krumpet
George Miller wins Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for Happy Feet
Heath Ledger’s performance in The Dark Knight posthumously earns him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2008.
Australia increases its tax rebate for foreign productions from 16.5% to 30%
Cate Blanchett wins Academy Award for Best Actress for Blue Jasmine
New Australia tax incentives provide a 40% Producer Offset for Feature Films, 30% PDV (post-production, digital, and visual effects) Offset, 20% Producer Offset for Television, and a 16.5% Location Offset.
Lion released
The Australian film industry generated $1.2 billion, supported 20,000 jobs, and exported content to more than 200 international markets.
Films shot in Australia: Thor: Love and Thunder, Elvis, Backlight, Shang-Chi and The Legend Of The Ten Rings, Three Thousand Years Of Longing, Ticket to Paradise. TV Shows shot in Australia - Joe Exotic, Nine Perfect Strangers, Pieces of Her
Marvel Studios announces it will make Sydney its home base for the next 5 years
Mad Max Furioasa will commence production in NSW, creating 850 local jobs and injecting at least $350 million into the NSW economy.
Peter Rabbit 2 and The Dry each earn more than $20 million, accounting for $42.1 million of total domestic earnings. Feature films under Australian or shared creative control earned $71.5 million or 11.8 per cent of the total Australian box office
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Our Commitment to the Australian Film Industry
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Read About Upcoming Film Festivals on The Latch
Read Film Reviews on
The Latch
Our Commitment to the Australian Film Industry