Taking on the Box Office

Abstract

For better or worse, under the intensifying pressure of market rationalisation, audience engagement with content produced by the heavily subsidised Australian film industry has become a pivotal issue. Historically, the success of local productions has been evaluated primarily through recourse to box office statistics. Rather than helping the industry, this article argues that over-reliance on this data can only further threaten the security of future government funding by rendering invisible the non-theatrical audience, and lending weight to the perception that Australian audiences don't consume local content. This article contends that an alternative and more suitable resource needs to be created for industry practitioners. It suggests that, as the industry-specific public institution responsible for the aggregation, interpretation and dissemination of industry-specific data, Screen Australia is the ideal candidate to provide such information.