2008 Fall/Holiday Preview: #5. Australia

#5. Australia

Director: Baz Lurhmann
Writers: Ronald Harwood, Stuart Beattie, Richard Flanagan and Lurhmann
Producers: G. Mac Brown (Unfaithful), Catherine Knapman and Luhrmann
Distributor: 20th Century Fox

The Gist: This romantic action-adventure set in northern Australia prior to World War II, centers on an English aristocrat (Kidman) who inherits a ranch the size of Maryland. When English cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn cattle driver (Jackman) to drive 2,000 head of cattle across hundreds of miles of the country’s most unforgiving land, only to still face the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by the Japanese forces that had attacked Pearl Harbor only months earlier.

Fact: Lurhmann, Kidman, Jackman and the film all come from the country mentioned in the movie’s title.

See It: Every now and then, a sweeping studio epic with summer blockbuster production budget (this had a 130 million dollar price tag) is nice to have among the mix.  

Release Date/Status?: Wide release on November 26th.