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Editor’s Note: I met Sean Williams at Comic-Con’s Hall H between panels on the first day of the Con this past July, chatting as people do. It turns out that Sean is a filmmaker, and he’s working on a sci-fi project – travel to another planet! strong women! – that sounds really great.

Last week Sean let me know that he was ready to start “officially” talking about the project, and wanted to know what I’d like to know. I told him I wanted to know, basically, everything. How the project got started, who’s involved, where he is in the process, etc. What follows is the narrative he wrote up on the spot on his phone and sent to me via Facebook Messenger in response. One long narrative that was completely engaging. He even copied and inserted biographies as he went along. It’s no wonder the man has won writing awards.

Australian musical Goddess has opened to moderate box office business after posting $512,445 in its opening weekend.

The film, which stars Laura Michelle Kelly, Ronan Keating and Magda Szubanski, was shown on 207 screens, giving it a screen average of $2476. In total, the Roadshow-distributed film has grossed $514,013.

It has been a disappointing start to the year for Australian films after sporting movies Save Your Legs! and Blinder were also distributed widely but failed to find a similarly broad audience.

Australian musicals have had something of a revival in recent times. Bran Nue Dae (also distributed by Roadshow) opened with $1.61 million across 231 screens in 2009 while last year's smash hit, The Sapphires, opened with $2.34 million across 279 screens for eOne/Hopscotch. However, the Hoyts-distributed A Heartbeat Away posted just $44,204 across 77 screens when it opened in 2011.

Among all films shown last weekend, the highest grossing was Disney's Oz: The Great and Powerful, which took $2.97 million across...

Announced at last night’s Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) launch, the inaugural Samsung Aacta Awards will be held in Sydney in January 2012.

The move to January is an effort by the AFI to be more in line with the international awards season.

The ceremony has moved to Sydney as part of a three-year commitment, after being in Melbourne for the past ten years.

Tania Chambers, CEO of Screen Nsw said, “It’s my pleasure to welcome the AFI back to Sydney. We’re very proud to have the awards back for the next three years.”

With the ceremony held at the Sydney Opera House, the move is hoped to position the awards as a global event. The Nine Network will, for the seventh consecutive year, broadcast the ceremony.

A shortlist of feature film awards, based upon a two step voting model, has revealed The 23 films in...

Results from Encore Magazine‘s industry-wide survey into the mood of the sector and the EncoreLive panel discussion that followed.

Which of these statements best represents your general impression about the Australian film industry:

It’s living up to its potential – 7.8%

It’s seen better days, but it’s recovering – 36.3%

It’s struggling and there’s no relief in sight – 43.8%

It’s a lost cause – 7.8%

No response – 4.1%

Comments:

“In Wa we’re on the verge of a new era, wavering on the precipice of possibility… to establish a viable film industry, and shake off the old “Kids TV and docos” tag. But we’re in a vulnerable state, without enough skilled crew to service such large projects we need to act now in training and up skilling.

“We try too hard to compete with Hollywood rather than being authentic to our own culture and its stories.”

“I am so bored of the pessimists.

The Australian share of the box office has fallen to approximately 1.3 per cent over the first five months of the year, despite a sharp drop in total box office returns. That proportion is less than one-third of the 4.5 per cent Australian box office share over the first five months of 2010 when five films had already grossed more than $2 million each (Bran Nue Dae, The Kings of Mykonos: Wog Boy 2, Beneath Hill 60, Daybreakers and Bright Star) to push the total to $21.32 million. This year opened strongly for Australian films with the James Cameron-backed Sanctum grossing almost $3.84 million. However, films such as A Heartbeat Away and Wasted on the Young underperformed, pushing the total to just $5.63 million. Over the first five months of 2010, the total box office reached...

Screen Queensland has revealed the level of its investment in A Heartbeat Away – $425,000 comprising a production investment of $350,000 and a 12.5 percent State Labour Tax incentive of $75,000.

In addition, the $2.63m loan to cash flow the production, provided through the agency’s Revolving Film Finance Fund, “has already been repaid”, according to a spokesperson.

The $100,000 development investment provided to the project has also been repaid.

After the $7m Queensland-shot feature A Heartbeat Away failed at the box office last week, Encore contacted the agency for comment on its investment in the film.

“Screen Queensland carefully considers all requests for funding and thoroughly evaluates all investments made by the agency [...] The commercial success of film and television projects encompasses a broad range of measures, including economic development and job creation. Screen Queensland takes all of these factors into consideration prior to investing and when evaluating the success of a project,” the spokesperson added.

The performance of last week’s three Australian limited releases ranged from promising to disappointing.

Griff the Invisible (Transmission) grossed $66,344 from 21 screens (average $3,159.23); The Reef (Pinnacle) earned $58,196 from 38 screens (average $1,531.47) – most of them in regional areas. A Heartbeat Away (Hoyts), which received mostly negative reviews, made $44,204 from 73 screens (average $605.53).

Griff‘s performance was good enough for Cinema Nova to expand sessions of the film from March 24.

In comparison, the number one film Battle: Los Angeles (Sony), supported by a strong marketing campaign, impressive visual effects and the usually successful theme of an alien invasion, had a screen average of $7,838.07.

This is the Australian top 10 for the March 17-20 weekend:

1 Battle: Los Angeles Sony $2,570,889 2 Rango Paramount $2,238,920 3 Limitless Roadshow $1,895,666 4 Hall Pass Warner $929,982 5 The Adjustment Bureau Universal $841,915 6 The King’s Speech Paramount/Transmission $554,241 7 Gnomeo and Juliet Disney $425,020 8 I Am Number Four Disney $384,976 9 The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest Rialto $282,404 10 The Rite...

Source Code

Opens: April 1st 2011

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright

Director: Duncan Jones

Summary: A decorated soldier discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train. The experiment is a program that enables him to re-live another man's identity in the last eight minutes of his life which he must do repeatedly to find the truth.

Analysis: Two years ago British filmmaker Duncan Jones delivered his indie debut feature "Moon", a little seen but critically acclaimed sci-fi tale that was essentially Sam Rockwell acting alone or against himself. It was fresh, innovative, somber and overall heralded the arrival of a director to watch out for. After failing to secure funding for his next project, Jones quickly hopped onto the helm of this high-concept action/time travel blockbuster.

Naturally came the calls of Jones being a sell out, after all the...

My Idiot Brother

Opens: 2011

Cast: Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, Steve Coogan

Director: Jesse Peretz

Summary: Ned is a well-meaning idealist just released from prison for dealing cannabis. In succession, he disrupts the lives and homes of his three sisters: a career-driven journalist about to get her big break; a bisexual hipster whose lies are disrupting her relationship; and a married mother who hasn't noticed that her marriage is falling apart.

Analysis: Scoring a good response over the weekend at the Sundance Film Festival, this broad light comedy with a sweet heart charmed the pants off The Weinstein Company to the tune of around $6 million for distribution rights. That covers most of its sub-$10 million budget, a number that it could potentially outgross by several factors if the good-natured tone hinted at in the reviews were correct. If anything, the few negatives tended to be because this...

Machine Gun Preacher

Opens: 2011

Cast: Gerard Butler, Michelle Monaghan, Michael Shannon, Madeline Carroll, Kathy Baker

Director: Marc Forster

Summary: After finding God, drug-dealing biker Sam Childers renounces his outlaw ways and embarks on a spiritual path, becoming a crusader for hundreds of desperate and helpless children who were being forced to become soldiers in war-torn southern Sudan.

Analysis: Despite taking the freshly rejuvenated James Bond franchise and nearly destroying it with the very disappointing "Quantum of Solace", German-Swiss filmmaker Marc Forster still has a decent amount of good will left thanks to strong earlier efforts like "Monster's Ball," "Finding Neverland," "Stranger Than Fiction" and "The Kite Runner".

Now, in his first film since that Bond outing, Forster returns to serious drama with this true story tale of a biker who became a humanitarian crusader for children in the Sudan. The story itself is fascinating, the born again Sam Childers and...

Kaboom

Opens: 2011

Cast: Thomas Dekker, Haley Bennett, Juno Temple, Kelly Lynch, James Duval

Director: Gregg Araki

Summary: Smith's everyday life in the dorm - hanging out with his arty, sarcastic best friend Stella, hooking up with a beautiful free spirit named London, lusting for his gorgeous but dim surfer roommate Thor - all gets turned upside-down after one fateful, terrifying night.

Analysis: A year after "Thelma and Louise" came "The Living End", an independent film which had a similar premise but made the protagonists two gay HIV+ men. It was raw, intense and signalled the arrival of a new talent in the form of filmmaker Gregg Araki. In the subsequent two decades, he's delivered several trippy films involving young, good-looking omnisexual people having lots of graphic sex and dealing with some wacky cobbled together plot shenanigans.

The tone has ranged the light-hearted "Splendor" and "Nowhere" to the darker "Mysterious Skin...

It’s a new year, and the posters are still coming. Let’s have fun and look at a few, shall we?

1. The Green Hornet: Grade F

What else could be said about this poster other than the fact it looks very cheap, and thrown together? It doesn’t look as if there was any attention to detail at all.

This is a good start to the year.

2. Cedar Rapids: Grade C+

The uninhibited joy in Ed Helms’ face is cause for a chuckle, and the sparse background also keeps everything neat and uncluttered.

3. Hall Pass: Grade D

This doesn’t even look like Own Wilson. If his name wasn’t on the poster, I never would have known. Now, that really isn’t a bad thing, the very smoothed out, photoshopped look is.

4. Kutsal Damacana: Grade B-

My love for the goofy irreverence of Bollywood continues to grow with this poster.

The Factory

Opens: 2011

Cast: John Cusack, Jennifer Carpenter, Ksenia Solo, Mae Whitman, Sonya Walger

Director: Morgan O'Neill

Summary: An obsessed cop is on the trail of a serial killer prowling the streets of Buffalo, New York. When his teenage daughter disappears, he drops any pretension and professional restraint he might have to get the killer.

Analysis: Shot almost three years ago now, Dark Castle had originally planned to release this thriller back in late 2009. However for reasons unspecified, it has been sitting on a shelf for some time and keeps getting delayed. In cases like these, the most obvious reason is usually the correct one - it stinks (eg. "Case 39"). The company certainly has had its fair share of box-office duds lately including "Whiteout," "Ninja Assassin," "The Losers," "Orphan" and "Splice".

Yet Cusack generally has good taste in projects, his last venture into horror was the surprisingly effective Stephen King...

Damsels in Distress

Opens: 2011

Cast: Adam Brody, Analeigh Tipton, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Ryan Metcalf

Director: Whit Stillman

Summary: The story revolves around a group of style-obsessed college girls who take in a new student (Gerwig) and teach her their misguided ways of helping people at their grungy university.

Analysis: The first film in a decade from arthouse darling Whit Stillman, a filmmaker's filmmaker whose three Manhattan-based, yuppie-themed mannerist comedies - "Metropolitan," "Barcelona" and "The Last Days of Disco" - were a big influence on the likes of auteurs such as Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach. Stillman says this film varies somewhat from his previous trilogy of sorts, telling First Things that "This film is different, Completely different. Okay, not completely different, but it’s different".

Independently financed by Castle Rock CEO Martin Shafer, the project recently wrapped filming in Manhattan where Stillman returned to last year after having spent much...

Tom Hardy on the set of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, a look at most of the CG blue characters from The Smurfs, and the first shots of Joel Edgerton in Say Nothing.

There's also a shot of D'Artagnian and the titular The Three Musketeers, photos of the Ironhide toys from Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Jonah Hill on the set of The Sitter, and new stills from Vanishing on 7th Street, Jane Eyre and One Day.

Posters for Cedar Rapids, Drive Angry 3D, Hall Pass, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night, Unknown, Your Highness, A Heartbeat Away.

"Len Wiseman's remake of "Total Recall" starring Colin Farrell is set to shoot at the Pinewood Toronto Studios in Canada. The film is said to be the largest production that the city has ever hosted..." (full details)

"Andrew Garfield says they got two weeks of filming on the "Spider-Man" reboot in the can before breaking for Christmas.

Tom Hardy on the set of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, a look at most of the CG blue characters from The Smurfs, and the first shots of Joel Edgerton in Say Nothing.

There's also a shot of D'Artagnian and the titular The Three Musketeers, photos of the Ironhide toys from Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Jonah Hill on the set of The Sitter, and new stills from Vanishing on 7th Street, Jane Eyre and One Day.

Posters for Cedar Rapids, Drive Angry 3D, Hall Pass, Dylan Dog: Dead of Night, Unknown, Your Highness, A Heartbeat Away.

"Len Wiseman's remake of "Total Recall" starring Colin Farrell is set to shoot at the Pinewood Toronto Studios in Canada. The film is said to be the largest production that the city has ever hosted..." (full details)

"Andrew Garfield says they got two weeks of filming on the "Spider-Man" reboot in the can before breaking for Christmas.

Catch .44

Opens: 2011

Cast: Forest Whitaker, Bruce Willis, Malin Akerman, Nikki Reed, Deborah Ann Woll

Director: Aaron Harvey

Summary: The story focuses on three women being thrust into an extraordinary situation involving a psychopathic hitman, a grizzled trucker and a delusional line cook.

Analysis: Oddly little is known about this indie crime comedy aside from the three lead female roles have gone through more than a couple of rounds of casting musical chairs. The likes of Maggie Grace, Kate Mara, Laura Ramsey, Sarah Roemer, Lizzy Caplan and Lauren German were all attached at one point or another before the final trio of Malin Akerman ("Watchmen"), Nikki Reed ("Twilight") and Deborah Ann Woll ("True Blood") were settled on.

Bruce Willis, Forest Whitaker, Michael Rosenbaum and Brad Dourif also star with Willis as a crime boss behind everything that happens and Whitaker as a dangerously unstable assassin. Aaron Harvey, who last directed...

The Beaver

Opens: March 23rd 2011

Cast: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence

Director: Jodie Foster

Summary: A depressed toy company CEO with a failed marriage starts to wear a beaver puppet on his hand as a form of therapy, much to the initial bemusement of his family. He soon begins talking only through the character.

Analysis: This time last year, excitement was quietly brewing for "The Beaver". Gibson's drunken tirade a few years before hand wasn't forgotten, but enough time had passed that this looked to be the year of a potential comeback for the actor.

The thriller remake "Edge of Darkness" and this were his first on screen roles in ten years, 'Beaver' is also his "Maverick" co-star Foster's return to the director's chair fifteen years after her last feature. The script topped the 2008 Black List and scored rave reviews for its blend of sophisticated humor and sad pathos,...

In its Australian International Movie Convention booklet, Screen Australia has revealed the target audience of the upcoming slate of films it has supported financially.

The agency believes all of these projects have box office potential and target specific audience segments, with many of them having a female skew.

The art house fare is described in this document as being targeted to “discerning film lovers”.

These are the titles described by Screen Australia.

Releasing 2010:

Tomorrow When the War Began

Genre: Action Adventure Target Audience: 13-34 years Distributor: Paramount

Matching Jack

Genre: Heart-warming drama Target Audience: broad, with a skew to female 35+years Distributor: Fox

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole

Genre: Animated fantasy Target Audience: Family Distributor: Roadshow

Road Train

Genre: Horror/thriller Target Audience: male and female 18-30 years Distributor: Pinnacle Films

The Loved Ones

Genre: Horror Target Audience: 16-24 years horror fans and horror fans...

Isabel Lucas has make a leap from blockbuster action fantasy to feel-good musical comedy with "A Heartbeat Away". The actress known for her Alice role in "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" has been tapped as the leading lady for this major Queensland film production by Emmy Award-winning Australian theater director Gale Edwards.

What part she will be playing in the movie has yet to be disclosed. Nonetheless, she will take a part in the story that revolves around an aspiring rock guitarist who is forced to take over the musical direction of his father's marching band just four weeks before a major competition. She is joined by Sebastian Gregory, Williams Zappa, Tammy Macintosh and Colin Friels in the cast ensemble.

"A Heartbeat Away" is produced by Chris Fitchet and marked Gale Edwards' directorial debut in feature film. Of the movie, the helmer said, "It's a charming, funny and moving...

Isabel Lucas has landed a role in a new musical comedy entitled "A Heartbeat Away". It has not been known what role which is played by the Australia-born actress in this film debut for Emmy Award winning Australian theater director Gale Edwards, but she will share screen with the likes of Sebastian Gregory, Williams Zappa, Tammy Macintosh and Colin Friels.

"A Heartbeat Away" tells the story of an aspiring rock guitarist who is forced to take over the musical direction of his father's marching band just weeks before a major competition. "It's a charming, funny and moving human story with some interesting deeper layers," Edwards claims about her new project. The shooting for the film has been kicked off on Monday, February 15 in Brisbane for a 2011 release.

Isabel Lucas, who has her first television role when playing Tasha Andrews in "Home and Away", appears as Alice in box office movie...

In the wake of the success of indigenous musical Bran Nue Dae, a new musical-comedy, A Heartbeat Away, has just begun shooting in Brisbane after being delayed late last year due to refinancing.   The film marks the feature film debut of acclaimed theatre director Gale Edwards whose credits include The Boy From Oz and Jesus Christ Superstar, with the latter winning an International Emmy in 2001.   Edwards has directed musicals on The West End and Broadway and has received Green Room, Sydney Critics Circle and Helpmann awards for Best Director of productions such as her highly acclaimed Sweeny Todd.