First Look at Hilarious Behind-the-Scenes Documentary Mockbuster
South Australian documentary Mockbuster is set to release in US theatres and on VOD on 10 July, with US distributor Giant Pictures and Australia’s Umbrella Entertainment launching the full official trailer this month.
The debut feature from South Australian writer/director Anthony Frith, co-written by SA’s Sandy Cameron and produced by David Elliot-Jones, Cameron, and Naomi Ball, Mockbuster dives into the eccentric, fast-and-loose filmmaking world of The Asylum – the infamous B-movie studio behind titles like Sharknado.
Tasked with shooting The Asylum’s first Australian film – dinosaur epic The Land That Time Forgot – in suburban Adelaide in under a week, Frith also films the chaos behind the scenes. Between demanding LA execs, a baffled cast and his own creeping self-doubts, he finds hilarity, mayhem and an unexpected kind of success.
“Mockbuster is a love letter to ambition, chaos, and the people who somehow make movies happen anyway.”
Nick Savva, General Manager, Giant Pictures
Behind the scenes of Mockbuster © Courtesy of Umbrella Entertainment
Supported by the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) and Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) Investment Fund, Mockbuster had its world premiere at AFF 2025 and has been selected for festivals around the world, including the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival and Calgary Underground Film Festival where it won an Honourable Mention from the jury for Best Documentary Feature.
Anthony Maras’ Pressure lands in US Theatres
Hotly anticipated new WWII drama Pressure, from South Australian writer/director Anthony Maras (Hotel Mumbai) and starring Brendan Fraser and Andrew Scott, has arrived in US cinemas to rave reviews.
Co-written by Maras and David Haig, adapted from Haig’s acclaimed stage play of the same name, Pressure explores how a Scottish meteorologist helped determine the date for the Normandy invasion of 1944. In the tense 72 hours before D-Day, General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Fraser) and Captain James Stagg (Scott) face an impossible choice – launch the most dangerous seaborne invasion in history or risk losing the war altogether.
Pressure has attracted strong critical praise from its US release. The Hollywood Reporter called it “superb”, “tense” and “compelling” with an “award-worthy performance by Andrew Scott in the lead role”, while Variety declared it “an absorbing tale of how the weather won the war”. New York Mag’s Vulture labelled it “gripping”, while Time Out gave four stars to the “terrifically tense thriller”.
A Working Title production, Pressure was filmed in the United Kingdom with post production completed in South Australia, supported by the SAFC’s SA Post, Digital & Visual Effects (PDV) Rebate.
Pressure is in US theatres now, and is released in the UK and Ireland on 9 September.
Darkly Comedic Folktale The Fox Enjoys International Festival Success
South Australian made dark comedy The Fox is enjoying worldwide festival success and critical acclaim following its international premiere at SXSW.
The debut feature of South Australian writer/director Dario Russo (Danger 5, Koala Man), The Fox follows Nick (Jai Courtney), whose world is turned upside down when he encounters a talking, shape-shifting fox (voiced by Olivia Colman) who offers him an opportunity to transform his fiancée (Emily Browning) into the perfect woman.
Filmed on location in the Adelaide Hills with a predominantly South Australian crew, The Fox also features post production delivered by SA’s KOJO Studios.
Currently rated 91% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has earned rave reviews with Variety listing it as one of its top eight SXSW highlights, labelling it a “promising and imaginative feature debut”.
“It’s inventive in its savagery, almost always pertruding, but succeeds at the kind of absurd genre blend that made Yorgos Lanthimos a household name.”
Zachary Lee, RogerEbert.com
The Fox took out the Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature at the Calgary Underground Film Festival, with the festival jury praising it “a work of remarkable tonal confidence, committing fully to its offbeat, absurd and deadpan world without ever losing control”.
Produced by Kristina Ceyton and Samantha Jennings of Causeway Films and SA producer Carly Maple, The Fox was supported by the SAFC’s Screen Production Fund and the SA PDV Rebate, and the Adelaide Film Festival (AFF) Investment Fund.
New South Australian Horror Ruby, Ruby Launches Sales at Cannes
Ruby, Ruby, the new supernatural horror from South Australian writer/director Ursula Dabrowsky, was launched to buyers at Cannes last month via Blue Fox International.
Produced entirely in South Australia with support from the SAFC, in association with Headgear Films and Arterial Films, Ruby, Ruby marks the fourth horror project for Ursula Dabrowsky, a pseudonym of screenwriter, director and producer Sue Brown, who produced alongside Antony I. Ginnane.
Inspired by the urban legend of 18-year-old Ruby Bland, who died in 1909 in the South Australian regional town of Kapunda, Ruby, Ruby follows Ollie and Hannah, who awaken a deadly curse when they become trapped in a haunted cemetery with a predator and must fight supernatural and human foes in their bid to escape.
Sarah Jeavons (The Shadows of Trust, Smashed) and Luca Sardelis (RFDS, The Hunting) star alongside Barrie Cotton, Asha O’Connell, Jordan Cowan and Henry Cooper, and Tommy Darwin.
