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SYDNEY: It is predicted to be a blockbuster on the scale of "Titanic" but much more than box office returns will hang on the success of Baz Luhrmann's sweeping new outback epic "Australia".
The romantic drama, set in the country's inhospitable north at the brink of World War II, already boasts the cream of antipodean star power with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman in the lead roles.
And director Luhrmann is the creative mastermind behind the Kidman and Ewan McGregor 2001 musical "Moulin Rouge!", and 1996's "Romeo + Juliet" starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.
As Australia suffers along with the rest of the world through the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression, hopes are high that its namesake movie will revive flagging tourism Down Under.
In an unprecedented move, Tourism Australia has invested 40 million Australian dollars in a new advertising campaign spinning off from the film it hopes will amuse and attract foreigners as "Crocodile Dundee" did in the 80s.
The government body's managing director Geoff Buckley said the movie, which has a budget in excess of 100 million US dollars, was the perfect platform to push the message that a holiday on the island continent can be a life-changing experience.
The film, to be released in November, centres on Kidman's English character Lady Sarah Ashley who inherits a vast outback cattle station and makes an epic journey across the country with a rugged drover, played by Jackman.
"The movie was telling a story about the transformation of one of the key characters, Nicole Kidman, and that transformation occurred because of her interaction with the land and with the people," Buckley told AFP.
"That storyline resonated with us in terms of the way we wanted to sell Australia."
Buckley said the opportunity to piggyback off that message, which would be backed and marketed by the powerful 20th Century Fox studio, was too good an opportunity to pass up. Plus the movie couldn't have a better name.
"Now here we've got a story which we think will resonate but also it's called Australia so for us that was a fantastic opportunity," he said.
The tie-in between movies and tourism has long been known -- Buckley cites "Out of Africa", "Lord of the Rings" and "The Da Vinci Code" as films which prompted viewers to travel to where the action was set.
But he acknowledges the risk in basing an advertising campaign on a movie which could turn out to be a box office stinker.
"We were always conscious of that as a possibility and as a risk," Buckley said. "The further it goes on, the less likely we believe that to be."
He said regardless of the success of the movie, the marketing exposure accompanying the film would be enormous.
And the Tourism Australia campaign, television advertisements which use elements of the Luhrmann movie, is designed to work independently of the film.
"They are stand-alone contemporary ads that if you've seen the movie, yes, you'll get the connection but if you haven't seen the movie you will still, we believe, get the message," he said.
The strategy could be seen as a bold step, particularly as its follows Tourism Australia's controversial "Where the bloody hell are you?" campaign which was originally deemed too offensive to be aired in some countries.
That campaign worked in some western markets, but failed in Asia. And while more than five million international visitors come to these shores annually, bringing in some 24 billion Australian dollars, numbers have been static for the past two years.
Meanwhile plunging stockmarkets, failed banks and the gloomy financial outlook may deter tourists from making the long-haul trip Down Under which is both expensive and time-consuming.
Earlier this year, Australian tourism officials predicted that international visitor arrivals would grow by some 3.2 per cent in 2009 compared with 2008. Buckley admits this figure is now under threat.
"We know that's going to be a real struggle given the current environment," he said. "But we will retain the target and treat it as a stretch target."
Matt Hingerty, managing director of the Australian Tourism Export Council, said the "Australia" campaign was perfectly pitched for the times given that people wanted to escape the ruck and turmoil of the global crisis.
"Asking 'Where the bloody hell are you?' now would, I think, globally be seen as part of an insult or naive. People are bloody hell sitting at home counting the money that they don't have," he said.
Australia was lucky to have a movie which would promote it as a destination around the world amid declining numbers of travellers.
"I think the film, hopefully, is going to be that grand escapist story that the world needs right now," he said. - AFP/sh
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