News

President Donald Trump will sit down for an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier during the Fox Super Bowl Lix Pregame show on Sunday, Feb. 9 at 3 pm Et.

Additional segments from the interview will air during Special Report With Bret Baier on Monday, Feb. 10 at 6 pm Et and will be available on FOXNews.com.

More from TVLineAmber Ruffin to Headline White House Correspondents' Dinner - But Will Donald Trump Attend?Rhys Ifans to Lead For All Mankind Spinoff Star City at Apple TV+America's Got Talent Sets Season 20 Premiere on NBC - Which Judges Are Returning?

The interview will be...

Bectu Launches Biggest Ever Survey

British broadcasting union Bectu is launching what it is calling its largest ever survey of those working behind the scenes in TV and film. The union is asking workers across the UK’s creative industries about their experiences and views on key issues facing the sector, including pay, employment practices, mental health and wellbeing and finances. The move comes with the freelance workforce in a perilous position, with thousands exiting the sector as they struggle for work and grapple with low pay and poor conditions. Bectu has repeatedly stressed that this is worsening as time goes on. “Creative industry workers are critical to our economy and to our social and cultural fabric,” said Bectu head Philippa Childs. “But data on creative workers is lacking. The freelance nature of the creative industries means that freelancers often fall through data gaps on employment statistics, while without formal employment structures,...

Mckenna Grace has a new role booked!

The 17-year-old actress recently featured in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Previously, she held roles in The Handmaid’s Tale and the 2017 film I, Tonya.

On Monday (April 22), it was confirmed that Mckenna will lead an upcoming teen romance movie!

Keep reading to find out more…

Mckenna is set to star in Everything I Never Did, Variety reports.

The project will be directed by Last Cab to Darwin filmmaker Jeremy Sims.

According to producers Spencer McLaren, D.J. McPherson, and Jack Christian, Everything I Never Did “is a bittersweet love story that throws away cliches and sparks with originality, spontaneity, and surprise. It tells the story of troubled teen Liam Black and Jenna Reid (Grace), a seriously ill girl, who together embark on a transformative journey of living and loving in the face of adversity.”

Additional casting details have not been revealed. Production will begin in late...

Six-part series Back to the Rafters, set to debut globally on Amazon Prime Video September 17, picks up six years on from when we last saw the Rafter family. Dave (Erik Thomson) and Julie (Rebecca Gibney) have created a new life in the country with youngest daughter Ruby (Willow Speers).

As everyone comes together in Sydney to celebrate Dave and Julie’s 35th Anniversary, history repeats and circumstances force them all to cram into Ben’s two-bedroom home – once again packed to the-you-know-what. During the visit it becomes apparent that the older Rafter children are facing new challenges with Ben (Hugh Sheridan) recently married to Cassie (HaiHa Le) and hoping to start a family, Nathan (Angus McLaren) trying to do it all as a single dad to Edward (Kaspar Frost) and Rachel (Georgina Haig) living a secret life in New York. Granddad Ted (Michael Caton) struggles to find his place, Julie...

Based on real-life stories, Rfds portrays the modern-day heroes of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

The new action-drama from Endemol Shine Banks is coming soon to Channel 7 and 7plus, starring Stephen Peacocke, Rob Collins, Emma Hamilton, Justine Clarke and Ash Ricardo.

Filmed on location in and around Broken Hill, Rfds captures the beauty and brutality of Australia’s vast centre where the doctors and the nurses, pilots and support staff of the Rfds negotiate the unique challenges of emergency rescues across some of the most inhospitable places in the country

Imogen Banks co-created the series with Mark Fennessy and Ian Meadows, and produces with Sara Richardson. Jennifer Leacey is the set-up director, with Jeremy Sims and Adrian Russell Wills.

Writers include Meadows, Claire Phillips, Wills and Jon Bell.

Rfds has received major production investment from Seven in association with Screen Australia. It was financed with support from Screen Nsw...

Vulture Watch

Will Ray's story end with a bang? Has the Mr Inbetween TV show been cancelled or renewed for a fourth season on FX? The television vulture is watching all the latest cancellation and renewal news, so this page is the place to track the status of Mr Inbetween, season four. Bookmark it, or subscribe for the latest updates. Remember, the television vulture is watching your shows. Are you?  

What's This TV Show About?

Airing on the FX cable channel in the United States, Mr Inbetween was created by its star, Scott Ryan, and comes from Australia. The series also stars Kenny Graham, Chika Yasumura, Justin Rosniak, Matt Nable, Damon Herriman, Jeremy Sims, and Emily Barclay. In the series, Ray Shoesmith (Ryan) has many roles -- as a father, an ex-husband, a boyfriend, caretaker to a sick brother, and a best friend. His...

We don't have to wonder if the Mr Inbetween TV series will be cancelled or renewed for a fourth season since it's already been announced that Ray's story ends with season three. Could a surge in ratings encourage the show's creator and FX to want to make more episodes? Could the show return at some point? Stay tuned.

A gritty crime drama from Australia, Mr Inbetween was created by its star, Scott Ryan. The series also stars Kenny Graham, Chika Yasumura, Justin Rosniak, Matt Nable, Damon Herriman, Jeremy Sims, and Emily Barclay. In the series, Ray Shoesmith (Ryan) has many roles -- as a father, an ex-husband, a boyfriend, caretaker to a sick brother, and a best friend. His life is further complicated because Ray also happens to be a criminal-for-hire. In season three, Ray's world has contracted. Family life looks a little...

Is Ray where he wants to be in the third season of the Mr Inbetween TV show on FX? As we all know, the Nielsen ratings typically play a big role in determining whether a TV show like Mr Inbetween is cancelled or renewed for season four. Unfortunately, most of us do not live in Nielsen households. Because many viewers feel frustrated when their viewing habits and opinions aren't considered, we invite you to rate all of the third season episodes of Mr Inbetween here.

A gritty FX drama series (which originates in Australia), Mr Inbetween was created by its star, Scott Ryan. The series also stars Kenny Graham, Chika Yasumura, Justin Rosniak, Matt Nable, Damon Herriman, Jeremy Sims, and Emily Barclay. In the series, Ray Shoesmith (Ryan) has many roles -- as a...

FX will not renew Mr Inbetween, confirming that the show’s upcoming third season will be its last.

Created, written by and starring Scott Ryan, the Sydney-shot series follows charismatic yet volatile hitman Ray Shoesmith as he juggles his roles of father, ex-husband, boyfriend, and criminal for hire.

The character was first introduced in Ryan’s 2005 mockumentary The Magician.

Mr Inbetween is directed by The Magician editor and producer Nash Edgerton, and produced by Michele Bennett, who also produced the original film.

In what is to be the final season of the Blue-Tongue Films and Pariah Production series, Ray’s world has contracted.

Household life appears to be just a little totally different as he quietly mourns the lack of Bruce, whereas determining how you can take care of his growing old father, Invoice (Kenny Graham).

As daughter Brittany (Chika Yasumura) grows right into a younger girl, she attracts additional...

Scott Ryan’s “Mr Inbetween,” which will premiere its third season on May 25 on FX, is ending with this upcoming season.

The half-hour series, created by, written and starring Scott Ryan and directed by Nash Edgerton, centers on Ryan’s Ray Shoesmith, a criminal for hire who collects debts, drugs and guns, and sometimes “takes care of people” in a permanent way as he juggles being a dad and taking care of an aging parent.

In the third season of “Mr Inbetween,” Ray will deal with the loss of Bruce, figure out how to care for his aging father Bill (Kenny Graham), and be faced with his daughter Brittany (Chika Yasumura) possibly discovering who he really is. Ray is now working freelance and feeling isolated after severing ties with former boss and confidant Freddy (Damon Herriman), but with business booming, a new connection with kingpin Rafael (Jeremy Sims) compounds Ray’s problems.

The upcoming third season will be the last for FX’s Mr Inbetween. FX has opted not to pick up a fourth season of the Australian drama series, created by, written and starring Scott Ryan and directed by Nash Edgerton.

The nine-episode third season will premiere on Tuesday, May 25 at 10 pm Et/Pt on FX and be available to stream the following day on FX on Hulu. The premiere will include the first two episodes, with one new episode airing each subsequent week.

Mr Inbetween, inspired by Ryan’s 2005 cult film The Magician, centers on Ray Shoesmith (Ryan), a father, ex-husband, boyfriend and best friend: tough roles to juggle in the modern age. Even harder when you’re a criminal for hire.

In season three, Ray’s world has contracted. Family life looks a little different as he quietly mourns the loss of Bruce, while figuring out how to care for his aging father,...

Australian drama “Mr Inbetween” will end with its upcoming third season on FX, the cable channel announced Thursday.

The half-hour series — created by, written and starring Scott Ryan and directed by Nash Edgerton — will premiere its nine-episode final season on May 25 at 10/9c, with the first two episodes airing back to back. One new episode will air each subsequent week.

“Mr Inbetween” stars Ray Shoesmith (Ryan) as someone who “takes care of people” — collecting debts, relieving them of drugs and guns and often taking care of them on a more permanent basis, per FX. Ray demands respect and does not tolerate others disregarding his very clear code of ethics. As Ray’s increasingly volatile work collides with his imploding personal life, he finds himself struggling to stay atop the complex web he has woven.

Here’s the official description for the show’s third and final season:

“In season three of ‘Mr Inbetween,...

You can take the boy off the farm, but you can’t keep the farm — especially the dino ones — away from Sam Neill.

From the sheep of his new movie “Rams” to the bunnies of upcoming “Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway,” the Emmy-nominated New Zealand actor is entering his milestone 50th year of professional acting with projects incorporating his love for animals. However, it’s the not-so-farm-friendly dinosaurs of “Jurassic World: Dominion” that mark one of the largest-scale and most memorable projects of the 73-year-old Kiwi’s career.

Neill reprises his role as paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant in the new film — partly filmed during the pandemic and due out in 2022 — and jokes that the cast excitably churned out what could become a six-hour movie.

“It’s going be a big film. [Director] Colin Trevorrow has that childlike sense of wonder, playfulness and inventiveness that [Steven] Spielberg has. We really shot a six-hour movie.

February is shaping up to be something special. In response to a pandemic-extended awards season, the sort of films that used to crowd the release calendar just before New Year’s in an effort to Oscar-qualify while also still maintaining some measure of last-minute/latest-thing freshness are now arranging to come out over the coming weeks.

Think of that as a teaser of such upcoming films as “Minari” and “Nomadland” more than a reflection of this week’s lineup, although a couple of this week’s releases feature elements the marketing departments would be happy to hear described as “Oscar worthy.”

The first is Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut, in which he plays a gay man dealing with his father’s dementia (featuring a raging performance by Lance Henriksen). The second is Sam Levinson’s resourceful two-hander “Malcolm & Marie,” made during the pandemic and featuring two terrific, on-fire performances...

Nearly six years ago, “Rams,” a touching humanist drama from Iceland directed and written by Grímur Hákonarson, won hearts — and prizes — at the Cannes Film Festival. Now, in trots “Rams,” an Australian remake, directed by Jeremy Sims (“Last Cab to Darwin”). Adapted with winning cultural specificity by former newsman Jules Duncan, it’s longer and more broadly comic than the Icelandic version and boasts a tacked on, feel-good ending. Beloved Antipodean stars Sam Neill and Michael Caton play the two estranged brothers who must pull together to save what is dearest to them: their sheep.

Although they have not spoken to one another for 40 years, Colin (Neill) and older brother Les (Caton) Grimurson live on neighboring stud farms in a valley near Mount Barker, Western Australia. The spectacularly scenic landscape with its nearby mountains and beaches as well as baking hot summers and bush fires becomes a fateful character in the action.

In 2016, Icelandic online newspaper Kjarninn voted Rams, released only the year before, as the second greatest film their country had ever produced. I doubt the same will be happening in Australia for this remake.

Writer Jules Duncan and Director Jeremy Sims faithfully transplant Grímur Hákonarson’s film to Western Australia, making appropriate contextual changes but otherwise preserving both the plot and the serio-comic tone of the story of brothers Colin (Sam Neill) and Les (Michael Caton), neighbouring sheep farmers who have barely spoken in years. When a disease is identified in one flock, authorities determine that all the sheep in the valley where Colin and Les live, including those of their friends and neighbours, must be destroyed. Colin, after killing his own flock before it could be done for him, hides a few of them away, hoping to preserve the rare breed he farms.

Sam Neill is enjoying something of a late career high,...

Stars: Sam Neill, Michael Caton, Miranda Richardson, Asher Keddie | Written by Jules Duncan | Directed by Jeremy Sims

Sam Neill is truly blazing a new trail right now… After his performance in Peaky Blinders Season 1; his star turn in Hunt for the Wilderpeople; and his imminent return to the Jurassic Park franchise; it’s hard to not be a Sam Neill fan right now. Though that’s always been the case – whether he is researching dinosaurs or scaring the bejesus out of Laurence Fishburne (Event Horizon call back). Though his wheelhouse these days, in my opinion, are his more low-budget and personal stories. As he’s aging he’s taking on new roles, new challenges, a lot of which see him embody the everyman who simply cannot be phased. It’s a role he embodies so perfectly too.

I can’t lie to you, apparently this film is an Australian remake,...

Check out US trailer for Rams, starring Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Miranda Richardson (Sleepy Hollow) & Michael Caton (Last Cab to Darwin).

The heartwarming drama will hit theaters & VOD on February 5th.

In remote Western Australia, two estranged brothers, Colin (Sam Neill) and Les (Michael Caton), are at war. Raising separate flocks of sheep descended from their family’s prized bloodline, the two men work side by side yet are worlds apart. When Les’s prize ram is diagnosed with a rare and lethal illness, authorities order a purge of every sheep in the valley.

While Colin attempts to stealthily outwit the powers that be, Les opts for angry defiance. But can the warring brothers set aside their differences and have a chance to reunite their family, save their herd, and bring their community back together?

From Samuel Goldwyn Films, Rams is directed by Jeremy Sims and written by Jules Duncan...

Universal/Blumhouse’s comedy horror Freaky may have opened on top of the box office last weekend, but reopened cinemas in Victoria saw Warner Bros.’ Tenet only a step behind.

Directed and co-written by Christopher Landon, Freaky is a play on Freaky Friday that sees a high school student unintentionally switch bodies with a serial killer.

Starring Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton, the film has received positive reviews, boasting a 85 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Locally it posted $586,260 from some 266 screens, while global takings stand at $USD5.6 million.

Yet perhaps the most notable performer of the weekend was Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, which jumped a whopping 496 per cent on the previous frame to ring up $578,999 from 149 screens; the largest screen average of the week.

That revival is attributable to Victorian cinemas, which were able to reopen last week after five months of lockdown.

Such a boost for the...

‘Rams’, ‘Radioactive’ and ’Honest Thief” liven up the reopened Australian market.

‘The Witches’ posts $3.5m in second session

With cinemas now closed again across most of Europe, Warner Bros will be pretty happy with a decline of just 29% for The Witches in its second session. Robert Zemeckis’s new version of the Roald Dahl tale grossed an estimated $3.5m from 26 international markets (down from $4.9m for the opening weekend), and $10.1m after 10 days of play.

Russia was once again the top territory, with an estimated $869,000 at the weekend, followed by Mexico with $515,000 and Taiwan with $491,000.

Germany – the fourth-best market on...

Amid a dearth of new major releases, exhibitors are pleased with the staying power of Roadshow Films’ Rams, which held onto the top spot at the box office over its second weekend, as well as Rialto’s Honest Thief and R & R Films’ Never Too Late.

The only major opener for the weekend was Studiocanal’s Radioactive, bowing in third on a middling $178,416 from 180 screens with previews.

Directed by Marjane Satrapi, the drama stars Rosamund Pike as Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie as she tries to explain to the world previously unknown radioactive elements. It soon becomes evident that her work could lead to applications in medicine that could save thousands of lives, or applications in warfare that could destroy them by the billions.

Premiering as the Closing Night Gala at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Radioactive has gone straight-to-streaming in other major markets such as the US and UK given the pandemic.

Robert Zemeckis’s Roald Dahl adaptation debuts with an estimated $4.8m; ‘Rams’ lands top in Australia.

‘The Witches’ debuts with $4.8m

Robert Zemeckis’s film version of Roald Dahl’s The Witches began its international run on Halloween weekend, following its October 22 premiere on HBO Max in the US. The Warner Bros comedy fantasy – which is co-written by Zemeckis, Black-ish creator Kenya Barris and Guillermo Del Toro, and stars Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer and Stanley Tucci – debuted with an estimated $4.8m from 17 markets.

Top-performing territory was Russia/Cis with $1.6m, with Mexico second with $823,000. Germany, Saudi Arabia and Spain round...

Don’t judge this warm, funny, tender and down-to-earth rural drama about odd-couple brothers by its garish marketing materials

The poster for Rams depicts a perturbed-looking Michael Caton next to a smug-looking Sam Neill, both standing behind a sheep, which, like them, is staring into the camera. Going by this advert alone you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a bone-headed comedy about cack-handed country types and their livestock – something with a tagline like “they’re baaaaaad to the bone” or “just ewe and me”.

How wrong you would be. Rams is a lovely, even-tempered drama about men and rural life, gentle but firm of spirit, with a down-to-earth pith and a way of entertainingly and unpretentiously exploring potentially difficult subjects such as masculinity. Director Jeremy Sims and screenwriter Jules Duncan faithfully remake the excellent Icelandic film of the same name, which won best film in the Un Certain...

In today’s Global Bulletin Vivendi’s 2020 finances are up 2.4%, the Young Artist Academy announces this year’s award recipients, All3Media picks up “A World of Calm,” West End Films sells “Rams” in key territories and Fremantle promotes Seb Shorr.

Finance

In a year marked by the coronavirus pandemic, Vivendi saw its consolidated revenues go up by 2.4% to €11.6 billion ($13.7 billion) during the first nine months of 2020, and up 1.3 % during the third quarter.

The group’s subscription-based activities, especially at Universal Music Group and to a lesser extent Canal Plus Group, have bolstered Vivendi’s revenues. Canal Plus Group’s revenues were up 6.6% for the first nine months of 2020 and up 7.3% for the third quarter of 2020. The company’s international activities grew a strong pace with revenues from international operations rising by 27.4%. The addition of 1.2 million subscribers around the world, and the integration of M7, a leading pay-tv company in Europe...

Further deals include Germany, Italy, Russia, China.

UK-based WestEnd Films has sealed deals for multiple major territories on Rams, the English-language adaptation of the 2015 Icelandic feature.

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired the film for North America, with Signature Entertainment taking the rights for the UK.

Further deals are set for Germany and Italy (Koch Media), Russia and the Baltics (Paradise), Poland (Canal+), Middle East (Phoenicia Pictures), China (Jetsen Huashi Media), former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom Film) and airlines (Encore).

Village Roadshow will release the Australian film in Australia and New Zealand on October 29, as the first major domestic release since cinemas reopened following the pandemic.

‘Holey Moley.’

The Seven Network is counting on new and returning franchises and three new Australian dramas to maintain ratings momentum next year.

Unveiling its 2021 schedule today, Seven trumpeted The Voice, Holey Moley, Ultimate Tag, Big Brother, Farmer Wants a Wife, Australia’s Got Talent and the renewal of Sas Australia.

The network also revealed it will revive Fremantle’s Australian Idol, which last screened on Network 10 in 2009. Production on the reboot is due to start mid-year and it will premiere in February 2022.

The dramas are Endemol Shine Banks’ Rfds ; Roadshow Rough Diamond’s Australian Gangster, which finally makes the schedule after a three-year delay due to legal issues; and the second season of Every Cloud Productions’ Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries, a co-commission with North American streamer Acorn TV.

Among the new factual entertainment shows, Blink TV’s Australia: Now and Then, will ask celebrities, comedians, musicians,...

Imogen Banks (Photo credit: Daniel Asher Smith).

When Endemol Shine Australia’s Mark Fennessy and Imogen Banks started developing a drama inspired by the Royal Flying Doctors Service two years ago, neither could have imagined how much more topical and relevant the subject would become.

Based on the true-life heroics of the service’s doctors, nurses, pilots and support staff, the eight-part Seven Network drama Rfds (working title) started shooting in Broken Hill today with Jennifer Leacey as the set-up director. Leacey is directing four episodes and Jeremy Sims and Adrian Russell Wills are each helming two.

“The series feels very timely with what is going on in the world at the moment,” Banks, who is producing with Sara Richardson, tells If.

Banks, who co-created the series with Fennessy, based on his original idea, and Ian Meadows, continues: “We’re very lucky to be telling a story about people who...

Premiering in 2015 at Cannes Film Festival, where it picked up the Prix Un Certain Regard, Grímur Hákonarson’s Rams is an emotional, formally striking look at estranged brothers surviving as sheep farmers in the harsh climate of Iceland. The country’s Oscar contender, the English-language remake rights quickly got snatched up and now it looks like the film is complete as it is on display for buyers on the Cannes market.

Directed by Jeremy Sims, the remake stars Sam Neill and Michael Caton, and the first trailer has now arrived. Seemingly taking on the same plot, the tone here seems to swing a little more upbeat and palatable, which isn’t necessarily a surprise considering the hope for a wider audience than the original.

Also starring Miranda Richardson, Asher Keddie, and Hayley McElhinney, see the first trailer below via ScreenDaily.

Rams (the remake) does not currently have U.S. distribution.

(L-r) Hugh Sheridan, Georgina Haig and Angus McLaren.

Georgina Haig has replaced Jessica Marais in Seven Studios’ Back to the Rafters, and HaiHa Le, Libby Tanner, Rose Riley, Aaron McGrath and Bruce Spence are among new additions to the cast.

Among the other fresh faces in the Packed to the Rafters reboot are Willow Speers as Ruby Rafter and Kaspar Frost.

Willow had a supporting role in Cjz’s Rocky and Me commissioned by ABC Me and Screen Australia as part of the DisRupted program, .

Haig, whose credits include Secret Bridesmaids Business and the Us ABC network’s sci-fi series The Crossing, is playing Rachel Rafter after Marais withdrew.

The first Australian drama commissioned by Amazon, the Bevan Lee-created series is shooting in Sydney, produced by Chris-Martin Jones and directed by Jeremy Sims, Lynn Hegarty and Catherine Millar.

Amazon Prime also acquired the streaming rights to the original Seven Network...

‘Bilched.’ (Photo credit: Jay Dykes)

After making his screen debut as the star, writer and co-producer of an Australian teenage romantic comedy, Hal Cumpston could not have imagined what would happen next.

Three weeks after production of Bilched wrapped in Sydney, the 19-year-old was contacted by Us talent agency Industry Entertainment, suggesting he audition for one of the lead roles in AMC Studios’ The Walking Dead spin-off.

Cumpston did a selfie and was then asked to go to Los Angeles, where he nailed the role of Silas in the 10-part series which is now shooting in Richmond, Virginia.

Silas is described as a gentle giant, a shy loner who hates the fact that he scares people in the show created by Scott M. Gimple, which focuses on the first generation to grow up during the zombie apocalypse, co-starring Alexa Mansour, Nicolas Cantu, Aliyah Royale and Annet Mahendru.

The feature directing...

Meg Mundell.

Fremantle and Triptych Pictures’ Kristian Moliere are teaming up to make a TV drama adapted from New Zealand-born author Meg Mundell’s second novel The Trespassers.

The tome follows a shipload of migrant workers fleeing from a pandemic-stricken UK who seek a fresh start in Australia. For nine-year-old Cleary the journey promises adventure, for former nurse Billie it’s a chance to put a shameful mistake behind her, while struggling schoolteacher Tom hopes for a brighter future.

But when a crew member is murdered and people start falling gravely ill, the Steadfast descends into chaos. Trapped on the ship, the trio must join forces to survive the journey and its aftermath.

The screenplay is being written by Andy Cox, who was a script consultant on Stephen Johnson’s High Ground, script editor on Jeremy Sims’ Last Cab to Darwin and script consultant on Kim Mordaunt’s The Rocket.

‘Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.’

Quentin Tarantino’s ninth movie Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood posted the biggest debut of his career in Australia last weekend, emulating its Us success.

The 1969-set drama/thriller starring Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie and Damon Herriman opened 68 per cent bigger than his previous best effort Django Unchained in 2012.

The downside: The Sony Pictures release sucked a lot of air from the second weekends of Universal’s Palm Beach and Transmission Films’ Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.

The top 20 titles raked in $14.4 million, 3 per cent up on the previous frame, according to Numero. Mind Blowing Films’ Bollywood film Mission Mangal and Magnum Films’ Hong Kong thriller Line Walker 2 had buoyant launches while Universal’s A Dog’s Journey opened with neither bark nor bite, mirroring its Us fate.

The lurid tale of a TV actor (DiCaprio) who wants...

Ningali Lawford-Wolf in The Secret River.

Renowned Indigenous actor Ningali Lawford-Wolf died on Sunday while touring with the Sydney Theatre Company production in Edinburgh of The Secret River, Andrew Bovell’s adaptation of the Kate Grenville novel. She was 52.

The performer and mentor was hospitalised after suffering a heart attack and died surrounded by her family.

“Ningali was an incredibly talented performer as well as a wonderfully caring and thoughtful person,” the Stc posted on its website. “We’ve lost one of Australian theatre’s greatest treasures.”

A Wangkatjungka woman born under a tree at Christmas Creek Station in the far north Kimberley region of Western Australia, her film credits included Phillip Noyce’s Rabbit-Proof Fence, Rachel Perkins’ Bran Nue Dae and Jeremy Sims’ Last Cab to Darwin.

Noyce said: “Ningali will be remembered as an extraordinarily loving artist who gave her all to everything and everyone. Without Ningali Rabbit-Proof...

‘Palm Beach.’

The head-to-head clash between Universal’s Palm Beach and Transmission Films’ Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan last weekend was far from ideal, but both films are positioned to have leggy runs thanks to word of mouth.

Rachel Ward’s Palm Beach opened in third spot behind the fourth weekend of Disney’s blockbuster The Lion King and the second lap of Universal’s Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.

Scripted by Ward and Joanna Murray-Smith, the comedy-drama about a group of lifelong friends reuniting to celebrate a special birthday rang up $1.14 million on 250 locations and $1.23 million with previews.

Starring Bryan Brown, Sam Neill, Greta Scacchi, Richard E Grant, Jacqueline McKenzie, Claire van der Boom, Aaron Jeffrey, Heather Mitchell and Matilda Brown, the film opened 3 per cent ahead of Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding, which finished with $5.2 million, and at the same level as Jeremy Sims’ Last Cab to Darwin,...

Leon Ford in ‘The Letdown’ (Photo credit: Tony Mott).

Admirers of Leon Ford who enjoyed his work as Ruben in the ABC’s The Letdown and other shows should savour his performance in Jeremy Sims’ upcoming movie Rams because after that he will be off screen for a while.

The actor-writer moved to Los Angeles last year with his wife Alice Bell and their three young children as Alice serves as the writer/creator and co-showrunner on The Expatriates, a 10-part Amazon series produced by Nicole Kidman’s Blossom Films.

Based on Janice Y.K. Lee’s novel, the series centres on a group of close-knit American women and their lives as outsiders in Hong Kong and is yet to go into production.

“I would like to find a happy medium that a lot people have where they can go and back forth and do jobs,” he tells If during a family vacation in Australia.

‘Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan.’

The box office results for the Australian films and feature docs released in cinemas this year underline yet again the deep polarisation in the indie film market between the higher earners and the also-rans.

The top five titles – Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding, Shawn Seet’s Storm Boy, Anthony Marais’ Hotel Mumbai, Damon Gameau’s 2040 and Richard Lowenstein’s Mystify: Michael Hutchence – accounted for $15.8 million or 93 per cent of the Oz releases’ takings.

The Aussie films plus holdovers racked up nearly $17 million through the end of July, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia.

That’s a long way below the $40.6 million generated in the same period last year, led by Peter Rabbit’s $26.6 million, Breath’s $4.4 million (finishing with $4.6 million) and Sweet Country’s $2 million.

Surveying the challenges facing the indie film business, Transmission Films’ Andrew Mackie tells If:...

Wayne Blair and Miranda Tapsell on the set of ‘Top End Wedding’.

Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding has edged past Shawn Seet’s Storm Boy to rank as the highest grossing Australian film this year.

At the half way mark of the year, the Australian films and feature docs released in cinemas, plus holdovers, have racked up a modest $15.6 million, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia.

That’s a long way below the $40 million generated in the same period last year, led by Peter Rabbit’s $26.6 million, Breath’s $4.4 million (finishing with $4.6 million) and Sweet Country’s $2 million.

So can the industry surpass or match the 2018 calendar year total of $57.4 million? That was the third biggest year ever behind 2001’s $63.1 million and the all-time record of 2015’s $88.1 million, the year of Mad Max: Fury Road, The Dressmaker and Oddball.

Exhibitors are optimistic about the outlook for the rest of the year,...

‘2040’.

Five months into the year, 18 Australian films and feature docs released in cinemas since the start of the year, plus holdovers, have racked up a modest $14.3 million.

That compares with $37.6 million generated in the same period last year, led by Peter Rabbit’s $26.4 million, Breath’s $3.6 million in four weeks (finishing with $4.6 million) and Sweet Country’s $2 million.

Shawn Seet’s Storm Boy is the top title with nearly $5 million, a creditable result. But almost certainly that would have been rather higher if Sony Pictures had been able to use Geoffrey Rush in the publicity campaign.

Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding has grossed $4.7 million through Sunday, its sixth weekend, and could finish with $5.5 million.

Anthony Maras’ Hotel Mumbai collected $3.3 million, knee-capped by the dreadful co-incidence of opening on the same weekend as the Christchurch massacre.

Damon Gameau’s 2040 has earned $568,000 after its second weekend and, buoyed by word-of-mouth, distributor...

"What was going through our poor, misguided heads?" Blue Fox Entertainment has debuted a new official Us trailer for an Australian comedy titled Swinging Safari, which was released over there last year. We ran the first trailer in late 2017, it's just now getting a Us release this summer. The saucy coming-of-age film is set in the 70's in Australia. "It's a time of boxed wine, bad hair, bad styles, bad choices, but good times." The story follows a group of adults who get into the sexual revolution after a beached blue whale shows up, but it's also about their kids and what they experienced at the same time. Swinging Safari has an impressive ensemble: Guy Pearce, Kylie Minogue, Radha Mitchell, Julian McMahon, Asher Keddie, Jeremy Sims, and Jack Thompson. If you're looking for a swinging good time, this wild film is definitely for you. Here's the new Us trailer (+ Us...

‘Top End Wedding.’

Released in the slipstream of the Disney/Marvel Studios’ juggernaut Avengers: Endgame, Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding proved effective counter-programming last weekend.

The romantic comedy starring Miranda Tapsell, Gwilym Lee, Kerry Fox, Huw Higginson and Shari Sebbens wooed $1.1 million at 287 locations and $1.588 million with paid previews for Universal Pictures.

The opening was slightly behind that of Jeremy Sims’ Last Cab to Darwin’s $1.14 million, which finished with $7.4 million.

So, given the largely positive reviews and favourable word-of-mouth, the film co-written by Tapsell and Joshua Tyler and produced by Goalpost Pictures’ Rosemary Blight and Kylie du Fresne and Kojo’s Kate Croser could well reach $7 million.

The launch date was locked in before Universal took over eOne’s theatrical releases and before anyone knew the latest Marvel title would smash industry records in Australia and globally.

The superhero action adventure directed by the Russo brothers scored $13.6 million in Oz,...

‘Top End Wedding’.

It’s been a quiet start for the year for Australian films at the national box office, particularly compared to last year when Peter Rabbit and Sweet Country were drawing crowds.

However exhibitors are very optimistic about the outlook for the rest of the year, including Wayne Blair’s Top End Wedding which opened yesterday, Rachel Ward’s Palm Beach and Kriv Stenders’ Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan (both August 8) and Rachel Griffiths’ Ride Like a Girl (September 26).

Ten new releases plus holdovers collectively racked up $9.06 million through April 30, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia.

That’s way below the first four months of 2018, which generated $32 million, with Will Gluck’s Peter Rabbit making $25.4 million en route to a final total of $26.7 million and Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country $2 million.

Shawn Seet’s Storm Boy pocketed nearly $5 million, not a bad result,...

Svod service iwonder has launched in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, initially offering more than 500 hours of documentaries and current affairs programming for $6.99 per month or $69.95 a year.

Co-founder James Bridges tells If he plans to double the volume of content by the end of this month, including local acquisitions; he estimates more than 70 per cent of the programming is not available on any other platform.

He is attending the Australian International Documentary Conference in Melbourne where he will initiate discussions with Australian producers on commissions and co-productions.

The direct-to-consumer platform’s documentaries span the spectrum of entertainment, sports, history, politics, science and technology, religion, music, movies, nature, war and biographies.

The exclusives include Meal Tickets, Mat de Koning’s film about a Perth rock band whose ambitions were never realised, which premiered at Miff in 2016; Israel Cannan’s Fish Out of Water, which traces the journey of two ordinary...

Nir Shelter and Jules Duncan.

Jules Duncan’s The Big Yarn and Nir Shelter’s Home won the Monte Miller Awards for the best unproduced scripts presented by the Australian Writers’ Guild in Melbourne on Tuesday night.

Duncan’s feature screenplay revolves around a small town journalist who, after surviving a bungled hit, teams up with a wannabe cop to find out which of the lame stories she’s been working on masks a broader conspiracy.

Home is a short film about a Palestinian who boards an Israeli bus, forcing an Israeli soldier to choose between risking the lives of the other passengers and a potentially innocent man.

Duncan wrote the action comedy as part of Screenwest’s Feature Navigator program; it also won the Bill Warnock Screenwriting award.

His first produced screenplay is Rams, an adaptation of writer-director Grímur Hákonarson’s Icelandic hit Hrútar. Now in post, Rams stars Miranda Richardson,...

Kipan Rothbury.

Actor and emerging director Kipan Rothbury has signed with high-powered Us talent management firm Brillstein Entertainment Partners.

Rothbury’s Australian agent Morrissey Management helped engineer the deal with the company whose roster includes Bohemian Rhapsody’s Oscar-winning Rami Malek, Brad Pitt, Amy Adams, Michelle Williams and Adam Sandler.

“He is an extraordinary actor who has been making his own projects to critical claim,” Morrissey Management’s Fleur Griffin tells If.

A finalist for the 2018 Heath Ledger Scholarship (which was won by Charmaine Bingwa), his credits including Jeremy Sims’ upcoming drama Rams alongside Miranda Richardson, Sam Neill and Michael Caton, and Kosta Nikas’ thriller Sacred Heart with David Field.

“Over the years I have spent visiting and living in La, I gained a number of industry contacts, from producers, directors, film investors and acting mentors that I wished to work with,” he tells If.

“My first intention was to find the best representation,...

Film was previously called Flammable Children.

UK sales outfit WestEnd Films has scored a raft of deals on Swinging Safari, Stephan Elliott’s comedy starring Kylie Minogue and Guy Pearce, which was previously titled Flammable Children.

Blue Fox Entertainment has taken North America rights – the company is planning to release the film theatrically in early Summer 2019.

Rights have now also gone for Benelux (One2See Movies), Germany (Lighthouse Entertainment) and Greece (Spentzos). Previous deals were done for the UK (Thunderbird), France (Swift), Italy (Lucky Red), Spain (Twelve Oaks), Switzerland (Frenetic), Scandinavia (Sandrew), and the Middle East (Ecs).

Swinging Safari is...

Warwick Young.

Actor and filmmaker Warwick Young is currently working with Aftrs to develop a film training program for veterans.

The news comes as Young, who completed active service in Iraq in 2006, was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (Oam) on Saturday for his service to veterans and their families.

To receive the Oam was humbling and unexpected, Young tells If, because his work with veterans “is something I do to give back to a community of people I think give us a lot.”

In 2013, Young was approached to advise the production of play ‘The Long Way Home’, a joint venture between the Sydney Theatre Company (Stc) and the Australian Defence Force (Adf). Together with wounded, injured, and ill defence personnel, the play was written and developed via a workshop at the Stc and then went on a national tour in 2014 with a cast of predominantly veterans who...

Ryan Corr and Rachael Taylor in ‘Ladies in Black.’

The good news for Australian cinema: Last year ranks as the third biggest ever for Oz films and feature docs released theatrically in the home market.

Another encouraging trend: Eight of the top 30 grossing titles were feature docs, led by Paul Damien Williams’ Gurrumul, Mark Joffe’s Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Boy, Ray Argall’s Midnight Oil 1984, Naina Sen’s The Song Keepers and Catherine Scott’s Backtrack Boys.

The not-so-good news: The top two films, Will Gluck’s Peter Rabbit and Bruce Beresford’s Ladies in Black accounted for nearly 70 per cent of total revenues, while 39 of the 61 new releases each made less than $100,000.

Collectively, local titles including holdovers racked up $57.4 million in 2018, trailing the 2001 total of $63.1 million, according to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (Mpdaa)

The all-time record is 2015’s $88.1 million, the year of Mad Max: Fury Road,...

‘Miranda Richardson.’

Miranda Richardson is joining Sam Neill and Michael Caton in Jeremy Sims’ Rams, a re-imagining of Icelandic drama Hrútar, which is now shooting in Mt Barker in Wa’s Great Southern region.

The Oscar-nominated and BAFTA-winning (Damage) actress is playing Kat, an expat Brit who works as the veterinarian in a sheep farming town that is overcome by a rare ovine disease.

Neill and Caton star as estranged brothers who live on adjoining farms but haven’t spoken to each other for 40 years. The brothers are forced to find a way to work together to save their flock and their family’s legacy when their sheep and their small town are threatened.

Sims said: “I am thrilled that Ms Richardson is able to join us in telling our version of this beautiful saga about warring brothers. I’ve been a fan forever, from Queenie to Stronger, and fought...

Miranda Richardson has signed on for the English-language remake of Un Certain Regard winner “Rams.” The British star of stage and screen joins a cast that includes Sam Neill and Michael Caton on the movie, which is currently shooting in western Australia.

Richardson plays Kat, the local veterinarian of a sheep-farming town hit by a rare disease affecting the flocks of estranged brothers Colin and Les, played by Neill and Caton, respectively. The outbreak forces them to work together to save their livelihoods and family legacy. Charlotte Boving played the original character that Richardson has taken on in the re-imagining of Grimur Hakonarson’s well-received picture.

Richardson has a lengthy list of film, TV and stage credits including “Blackadder,” “The Crying Game,” and “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” Jeremy Sims directs the adaptation of the Icelandic film and said he was thrilled to have Richardson on board.

“I’ve been a fan forever,...

Sam Neill (“Hunt for the Wilderpeople”) and Michael Caton (“The Animal”) can be seen in-character in the eagerly-anticipated “Rams” in these exclusive first-look images from the shoot. The pair play sheep farmers and estranged brothers Colin (Neill) and Les (Caton).

They are a chalk and cheese pair – Colin is studious and introverted, while Les is hot-headed and crude. But they must reunite after a 40-year silence to save their flocks after the authorities order the slaughter of their sheep when a ram is found to be carrying a rare disease.

The film is a reimagining of Grimur Hakonarson’s earlier picture, which was set in Iceland and won the Un Certain Regard section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. The English-language version is being filmed in Western Australia’s Great Southern region.

“Rams” was adapted by screenwriter Jules Duncan and is being produced by Janelle Landers and Aidan O’Bryan from Australia-based Wbmc.