Source: The Mercury, 25 February, 1999, p.4 Source: The Mercury, 25 February, 1999, p.4
THIRTEEN years after wow- ing audiences with the size of his knife, Paul Hogan's Crocodile Dundee is still the most successful Australian film at the nation's box office. The outback comedy- adventure's $47.7 million national takings put it more than $10 million ahead of its nearest rival, Babe, and $22 million ahead of its sequel Crocodile Dundee II. But none of them comes close to the extraordinarily successful Titanic, which took a massive $55 million The list of the top 50 movies of all time in Aust- ralia, compiled by the Aust- ralian Film Commission, is based on box office takings to June 30 last year and the figures are in the equivalent of today's dollar values. Only seven Australian films make the list, confirm- ing the dominance of Holly- wood over Aussie viewers. The oldest film was Star Wars which was released in 1977 but its $29.6 million takings also include last year's special re-release. The oldest Australian movie on the list war. The Man from Snowy River released in 1982. Film reviewer Leigh Paatsch said the list revealed that Australianr generally preferred escapist films. "If you want to make an impact with Australian audi- ences, the film should be light and non-confrontational," he said. The light-weight comedy Mrs Doubtfire made the top 10, while Tom Hank's Forrest Gump is also high in the list despite being canned by the critics.
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