List of highest-grossing films in Australia

This list charts the most successful films at cinemas in Australia by box office sales in Australian dollars. An overview of the top-earning films and record-holders is provided, as well as the highest-grossing Australian productions.

Highest-grossing films

The following is a list of the highest-grossing films in Australia. The list is topped by James Cameron's Avatar (2009) which surpassed his Titanic (1997) to take the local record. Crocodile Dundee (1986) is the highest-grossing Australian film with a gross of A$47.7 million.

Background colour   indicates films currently in cinemas

Rank	Title	Year	Gross (A$)^[1]
1	Avatar	2009	118,985,016
2	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	2015	94,052,876
3	Avatar: The Way of Water	2022	93,670,000
4	Top Gun: Maverick	2022	93,332,040
5	Barbie	2023	85,740,000
6	Avengers: Endgame	2019	84,174,373
7	Spider-Man: No Way Home	2021	81,748,394
8	The Lion King	2019	64,138,378
9	Avengers: Infinity War	2018	62,024,642
10	Titanic	1997	58,702,677

Highest-grossing film by year

Year	Title	Gross (A$m)^[2]
1972	The Godfather	2.0^R^[3]
1973	Alvin Purple	4.7^[4]
1974	The Sting	4.4^R^[3]
1975	Jaws	4.8^R^[3]
1976	The Towering Inferno	3.9^R^[3]
1977	The Spy Who Loved Me	2.1^R^[3]
1978	Star Wars	6.4^R^[3]
1979	The Muppet Movie	2.0^R^[3]
1980	Kramer vs Kramer	3.1^R^[3]
1981	Gallipoli	4.1^R^[3]
1982	The Man from Snowy River	7.8^R^[3]
1983	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	11.4^R^[3]
1984	Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom	4.2^R^[3]
1985	Beverly Hills Cop	4.1^R^[3]
1986	Crocodile Dundee	40.8
1987	Beverly Hills Cop II	11.4
1988	Crocodile Dundee II	24.9
1989	Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade	15.8
1990	Pretty Woman	26.1
1991	Dances with Wolves	19.2
1992	Strictly Ballroom	18.7
1993	Jurassic Park	31.7
1994	The Lion King	24.7
1995	Batman Forever	17.9
1996	Independence Day	29.3
1997	Men in Black	22.7
1998	Titanic	47.3
1999	Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace	38.7
2000	Gladiator	30.7
2001	Shrek	32.1
2002	Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones	33.8
2003	Finding Nemo	37.1
2004	Shrek 2	50.4
2005	Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith	35.5
2006	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	38.1
2007	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	35.5
2008	The Dark Knight	45.8
2009	Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince	40.6
2010	Avatar	75.3
2011	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2	52.6
2012	The Avengers	53.3
2013	Iron Man 3	39.2
2014	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1	32.8
2015	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	62.8
2016	Finding Dory	48.6
2017	Beauty and the Beast	48.0
2018	Avengers: Infinity War	61.9
2019	Avengers: Endgame	84.2
2020	Jumanji: The Next Level	28.0
2021	Spider-Man: No Way Home	55.3
2022	Top Gun: Maverick	93.1^[5]

^RDistributor rental for entire run

Previous record holders

Timeline of the highest-grossing film record

Year	Title	Record setting gross (A$)
1940	Gone With the Wind	3,426,000^R^[6]
1965	The Sound of Music	4,437,000^R^[6]
1975	Jaws	4,620,000^R^[6]
1977	Star Wars	6,200,000^R^[6]
1982	The Man from Snowy River	7,821,420^R^[3]^[7]
1983	E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial	11,424,768^R^[3]
1986	Crocodile Dundee	47,707,598^[8] (19,772,232^R)^[3]
1998	Titanic	57,713,717^[1]
2009	Avatar	115,781,489^[1]

^RDistributor rental.

Highest-grossing Australian productions

The following is a list of the highest-grossing Australian films at the Australian box office. Crocodile Dundee has remained the highest-grossing Australian film for 37 years, even without factoring in inflation.

Rank	Title	Year of release	Budget (A$)	Australian gross (A$)^[8]	Worldwide gross (US$)
1	Crocodile Dundee	1986	$11,500,000	$47,707,598	$328,203,506^[9]
2	Australia	2008	$200,000,000 (US$130,000,000, US$78,000,000 after tax incentives)^[10]	$37,555,757	$211,342,221^[11]
3	Babe	1995	$30,000,000	$36,797,861	$254,134,910^[12]
4	Elvis	2022	$120,000,000	$33,486,309^[13]	$285,781,077^[14]
5	Happy Feet	2006	$132,740,000	$31,786,593	$384,335,608^[15]
6	The Lego Movie*	2014	$60,000,000	$29,834,461^[16]	$468,060,692^[17]
7	Lion	2016	$15,000,000	$29,563,329	$140,312,928^[18]
8	Moulin Rouge!	2001	$52,000,000	$27,765,415	$179,213,434^[19]
9	The Great Gatsby	2013	$105,000,000	$27,385,977	$353,641,895^[20]
10	Peter Rabbit	2018	$50,000,000	$26,760,008	$351,266,433^[21]
Films marked as * are not classified as Australian by Screen Australia

Previous Australian record holders

Timeline of the highest-grossing Australian film record^[4]

Year	Title	Record setting gross (A$)
1966	They're a Weird Mob	2,417,000
1973	Alvin Purple	4,720,000
1975	Picnic at Hanging Rock	5,120,000
1979	Mad Max	5,355,490
1981	Gallipoli	11,740,000
1982	The Man from Snowy River	17,228,160
1986	Crocodile Dundee	47,707,598

Other popular Australian films

High grossing Australian films from earlier decades include:

• 1900s – The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) (gross £20,000)^[22]
• 1910s – The Fatal Wedding (1911) (£18,000),^[23] The Life Story of John Lee, or The Man They Could Not Hang (1912) (£20,000),^[22] The Martyrdom of Nurse Cavell (1915) (£25,000)^[22]
• 1920s – For the Term of His Natural Life (1927) (over £40,000)^[24]
• 1930s – On Our Selection (1932) (£60,000),^[25] The Silence of Dean Maitland (1934) (£50,000)^[25]
• 1940s – Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940) (£130,000),^[26] Smithy (1946) (over £50,000),^[25] The Overlanders (1946) (£250,000),^[25] Sons of Matthew (1949)
• 1950s – Walk Into Paradise (1956)

See also

• Lists of highest-grossing films

Notes

External links

• MPDAA Historical Box Office Top 10 Lists

References

1. "Cinema Industry Trends Top 50 Films of All Time". Screen Australia. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
2. "No. 1 Film at the Australian Box Ofiice Since 1972". Screen Australia. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
3. "'Croc' still tops shifting Oz Aussie b.o. sweeps". Variety. 2 May 1990. p. 234.
4. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 February 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
5. "Top 5 films (2022)". Screen Australia. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
6. "All-time Aussie Rental Champs". Variety. 6 May 1981. p. 56.
7. "Hoyts Proudly Announces The Man From Snowy River (advertisement)". Variety. 15 December 1982. p. 18.
8. "Top 100 Australian Feature Films of All Time". Screen Australia. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
9. Crocodile Dundee at Box Office Mojo
10. McClintock, Pamela (24 November 2008). "Hollywood stuffs Thanksgiving slate". Variety. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
11. Australia at Box Office Mojo
12. Babe at Box Office Mojo
13. "Top 5 Australian films (2022)". Screen Australia. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
14. "Elvis (2022)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
15. Happy Feet at Box Office Mojo
16. "Top 50 Films Each Year - 2014". Screen Australia. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
17. The Lego Movie at Box Office Mojo
18. Lion at Box Office Mojo
19. Moulin Rouge at Box Office Mojo
20. The Great Gatsby at Box Office Mojo
21. Peter Rabbit at Box Office Mojo
22. "£100,000 SPENT". The Advocate. Burnie, Tasmania. 5 January 1928. p. 6. Retrieved 5 May 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
23. "AUSTRALIAN FILMS". The Daily News (HOME (FINAL) ed.). Perth. 18 December 1931. p. 11. Retrieved 5 May 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
24. "EVA NOVAK GONE". The Daily News (HOME (FINAL) ed.). Perth. 4 May 1928. p. 10. Retrieved 5 May 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
25. "THE RESEARCH BUREAU HOLDS AN AUTOPSY". Sunday Mail. Brisbane. 17 February 1952. p. 11. Retrieved 5 May 2013 – via National Library of Australia.
26. "OUR FUTURE IN FILM INDUSTRY". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane. 4 December 1946. p. 2. Retrieved 5 May 2013 – via National Library of Australia.