Why Australia is in debt to Hugh and Ryan

As June ticked over, the 2024 Australian box office was officially a disaster.

Highly anticipated blockbusters like the Anya Taylor-Joy-helmed Mad Max: Furiosa and the Ryan Gosling-led Fall Guy flopped, leaving cinema operators from Los Angeles to rural Australia with empty seats and a bubbling sense of panic.

Stephen Goddard, the manager of a three-screen cinema in the coal mining town of Emerald in central Queensland, told NewsWire at the time that he wouldn’t make it to December.

But at that very moment, as the US summer months kicked off, the monsters started rolling in, one after the other.

Disney’s Inside Out 2 was the first megahit, collecting a mammoth $2.6bn at the global box office, including $55.5m in Australia.

And then Universal’s Despicable Me 4 took in $1.6bn across the world, including $43.2m in Australia.

On the heels of those two family-friendly behemoths followed another monster: the R-rated Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds cas...
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