Anti-Bush film breaks records
2004-07-19 07:33
Sydney - Fahrenheit 9/11, US director Michael Moore's savage documentary about President George W Bush, broke box office records in Australia over the weekend - even before its official release.
Sneak previews of the film, which won top prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival and has broken box office records in the US and Britain, grossed A$760 000 in Australia over the weekend.
That beat the previous record weekend intake for a documentary of $562 000 for The Real Cancun.
Fahrenheit 9/11's official release in Australia is scheduled for July 29 and until then selected cinemas are only permitted to hold two "sneak preview" sessions daily on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The manager of one cinema previewing the film, the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, called the response to Moore's vitriolic assault on Bush over the September 11, 2001 attacks and the war on Iraq "absolutely incredible".
"I am just so surprised by the diversity of the audience, from kids to older adults," general manager Paul Dravet said.
"We have had sold out sessions and queueing problems all weekend and every single session is getting rapturous applause."
The film's Australian distributor, Troy Lum, apologised to cinemagoers who missed out on seeing the feature over the weekend.
"We were expecting a good result on the weekend but this is way above our expectations," Lum said.
Australia and Britain were the only other countries to join the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and domestic opposition to the move has become a key issue as Prime Minister John Howard prepares to seek a fourth term in office in elections due later this year.