Gold-winning Slumdog Millionaire is a break-out hit of 2009
By Rama Gaind
DESCRIBED as “the break-out hit of 2009”, award-winning Slumdog Millionaire continued on its winning streak with four major category ‘wins’ at the 66th annual Golden Globe Awards on January 11 this year.
It was named the Best Motion Picture Drama, Best Director for Danny Boyle, Best Original Score for Indian composer/singer A.R. Rahman and Best Screenplay for Simon Beaufoy (who also did The Fully Monty).
A crowd-pleaser from British director Danny Boyle, this underdog tale highlights the value of knowledge learned the hard way.
It tells the story of an 18-year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai who is one question away from winning India’s TV game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" when he’s arrested on suspicion of cheating and, to prove his innocence, tells his life story to a sympathetic police officer.
Following its international box office success, Slumdog Millionaire is continuing its winning run in Australia with five-star reviews and sold-out sessions across cinemas across the country.
Released on a limited 33 screens on December 18, Slumdog Millionaire has already grossed more than $2,095,197, with a screen average of $20,783 (the highest screen average in the country for a traditional release film last weekend). The weekend box office figure increased a staggering 48% on the takings for the previous weekend.
With Australian audiences undeniably embracing this little film set in India and based on the book ‘Q&A’ by Vikas Swarup, Icon Film Distribution will expand the number of screens by another 28 screens on January 15. This screen count is expected to grow again in late January.
General manager Greg Denning says, “Based on the success of the US release late last year, we expected the film to do well, but could not have imagined a better result for Slumdog Millionaire. By comparison, at the same point of release last year, the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men had grossed $1,697,735 on 52 screens. It is also the film that went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture”.
With an ever-increasing swag of award nominations and wins, pundits are now tipping Slumdog Millionaire to be a clear favourite to win at next month’s Academy Awards.
