THE STORY OF EARTH PREMIERES IN CANADA

Hello Canada! 🇨🇦 The Story of Earth is now showing at IMAX Victoria at the Royal Museum, home to the largest IMAX screen in British Columbia.

GREAT RESPONSE FROM BOTH THEATRES AND AUDIENCES TO GREAT BARRIER REEF

We're delighted that audiences have been 'wowed' and 'uplifted' by the visuals and story of our film, Great Barrier Reef! '

'The respsonse to Great Barrier Reef has been tremendous.' Museum of Science, Boston. 'People LOVE the movie' - The Fleet Science Center, San Diego 'Our July attendance numbers are amoung the strongest we've seen of any of our documentaries!' - Tropicana IMAX, Atlantic City

THE CRY LANDS A US PREMIERE

Great news. Variety has announced The Cry will screen in the US on streaming service Sundance Now this coming November.

THE STORY OF EARTH PREMIERES IN EUROPE

The Story of Earth, narrated by Rachel Ward, starts screening in Copenhangen this week at the Tycho Brahe Planetarium. This theatre also played our giant screen films Hidden Universe and The Search for Life in Space. More info on our website: https://thestoryofearth.film/

GREAT BARRIER REEF PREMIERES ON SCREENS IN CANADA AND THE US.

Great Barrier Reef premieres on the giant screen in Edmonton, Canada July 1st & San Diego & Boston 5th July. Narrated by Eric Bana and featuring the stars of the world’s great reef.

THE SEARCH FOR LIFE IN SPACE - NOW ON NETFLIX.

We’re very excited to announce our IMAX film The Search for Life in Space, narrated by Malcolm McDowell, is now available on Netflix Australia! https://www.netflix.com/au/title/80217041

FILMING ON THE BLAKE MYSTERIES CONCLUDES

That’s a wrap on The Blake Mysteries - Ghost Stories! Thank you to our most amazing cast and crew.

THE TRAILER FOR GREAT BARRIER REEF IS NOW ONLINE

The trailer for Great Barrier Reef is here!

Narrated by Eric Bana, and currently playing in Canada and the USA, the film explores the many wonders of the worlds great reef. https://www.facebook.com/DecemberMedia/videos/1757085911012546/

THE STORY OF EARTH PLAYING ON THE GIANT DOME IN CHICAGO.

We’re very proud to announce that The Story of Earth is will premiere this May in Chicago at the Museum of Science and Technology. See it in the incredible dome format. Check showtimes here.
https://www.msichicago.org/explore/whats-here/giant-dome-theater/the-story-of-earth/

WATCH THE TRAILER FOR OUR NEW GIANT SCREEN FILM 'THE STORY OF EARTH'

We're very proud at December Media of The Story Of Earth! Coming soon to Imax and Giant Screen cinemas in the coming months.
https://www.facebook.com/TheStoryofEarthFilm/videos/845278345667067/

FILMING FOR THE CRY (BBC) BEGINS

Filming for the Synchronicity Films production The Cry has begun in Australia, with Stuart Menzies and December Media as the Australian producers.

Based on a novel by Helen FitzGerald and adapted by Jacquelin Perske, the cast includes Ewen Leslie (Top of the Lake), Stella Gonet (The Crown), Sophie Kennedy Clark (The Danish Girl) and Australian actors Asher Keddie (X Men: Origins) and Alex Dimitriades (Seven Types of Ambiguity).

http://www.c21media.net/bbcs-cry-attracts-abcs-attention/

THE SEARCH FOR LIFE IN SPACE NOW SHOWING

Wednesday night saw the gathering of science and film luminaries for the premiere of The Search for Life in Space at IMAX Carlton.

The screening was followed by a Q&A with celebrity Astronomer Alan Duffy and Producer/Director Stephen Amezdroz.

About Life In Space-

A new era of space exploration has begun as NASA trail-blazes the development of a new brand of science, astrobiology, a new era of space exploration has begun.

With stunning space imagery captured by the world’s most advanced telescopes, The Search for Life in Space takes us from the surface of Mars and the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn to the extreme lava fields of Hawaii and to toxic thermal vents deep beneath the Pacific Ocean. In these harsh environments, astrobiologists look for clues to how life takes hold— and how life might thrive on other planets.

An immersive adventure, The Search for Life in Space deepens our understanding of the cosmos and makes us re-examine such fundamental questions as: “Where did we come from?”, “How did we get here?” “Are we alone?”

MYSTERY IS THE BEST MEDICINE ON THE ABC

The numbers are in and it seems that the #BlakeArmy continues to grow.
Series 4 was the most popular series of The Doctor Blake Mysteries to date.
Audiences were up by 4% on previous series, dominating the Friday 8:30pm timeslot, with more people tuning in to Doctor Blake than all other channels put together.
Doctor Blake was also the most time-shifted program for the ABC so far this year.
The team at December Media is now working hard on Season 5 to captivate and grow audiences once again in early 2017.

DECEMBER MEDIA IN PRODUCTION WITH NEW SKETCH COMEDY SHOW

Fancy Boy, a new six-part sketch comedy show, commenced production in Melbourne this week.

The show, which has grown out of the three year Fresh Blood initiative to uncover exciting new talent, finds comedy in the stranger corners of suburbia: in the couple whose communication breakdown leads to a kidnap; in the artist who loses everything over his obsession with fart sounds; in the mum who struggles to accept her missing teen back into the family, mainly because he returns with a full beard and a foreign accent.

It’s twisted and tender, a comedy that lives somewhere between the moody and the downright dark. It’s an itch that starts out small, but quickly turns into a weeping sore and before you realise it, you’re all out of anti-fungal cream.

ABC’s Head of Entertainment, Jon Casimir, said “Fancy Boy made their name as a transgressive and weird live act, willing to go to places others wouldn’t. But what really marks their work is not just the boldness of their intent, it’s the heart and insight that underpins it. Fancy Boy sketches make you laugh but surprisingly, they also make you feel.”

Executive producer Stuart Menzies says, “Their live show was reviewed as ‘crude, disturbing and offensive’. We’ve think we’ve kept that spirit intact.”

Executive Vice President NBCUniversal’s Digital Enterprises and head of US streaming comedy channel Seeso, Evan Shapiro, says “The Fancy Boys are the freshest set of sketch voices I’ve seen in a long time – they are a whole new level of weird, even by Australian standards.’

Fancy Boy introduces five fresh faces to sketch comedy (actually they’re not that fresh, in fact some of them look quite unwell), John Campbell, Stuart Daulman, Greg Larsen, Henry Stone and Jonathan Schuster (but please do not give out any of these names to Social Security). And for this series they are joined by award winning comedian Anne Edmonds.

Fancy Boy will premiere on the ABC in Australia and Seeso in the USA late 2016.

Fancy Boy is produced by Nicole Minchin, series produced by Declan Fay, executive produced by Stuart Menzies and directed by Colin Cairnes.

A December Media production in association with Checkpoint Media and Fancy Boy TV Principal financier Screen Australia developed and produced in association with ABCTV and Film Victoria.

DOCTOR BLAKE TO RETURN FOR SEASON 5

The Doctor will be back! The ABC has announced that our number one locally produced drama series, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, has been commissioned for a fifth series.

Starring the formidable talents of Craig McLachlan as police surgeon Dr Lucien Blake and Nadine Garner as his devoted housekeeper Jean, The Doctor Blake Mysteries continues to attract a huge audience year upon year.

ABC Director of Television Richard Finlayson says “We are delighted to commission more Doctor Blake for our audience. Series four has been the most successful to date with an average audience of 1.67 million viewers across TV broadcast and iview*. Doctor Blake satisfies an appetite for engaging, home grown stories.”

Series Co-creator and showrunner George Adams says “December Media is elated to be returning to 1960s Ballarat once again to bring our loyal audience more tales of murder, mystery, mayhem and a wee bit of love with Blake, Jean and all our favourite characters.”

Series five will see Doctor Blake facing mysteries on every front, from the boxing ring to the vineyards of Victoria, from Gypsy camps to the Debutants Ball. Loyalties will be tested, friendships will be strained and faiths will be challenged. Will Blake and Jean finally find the happiness they so richly deserve? And can they then survive the return of an avenging nemesis from the recent past?

The fifth series of The Doctor Blake Mysteries will be filmed later in the year and air on ABC TV in 2017.

* Oztam Metro Consolidated Data, Regional TAM Consolidated Data and OzTAM VPM data.

DOCTOR BLAKE- SEASON 4 RETURNS WITH A BANG!

The Doctor Blake Mysteries returned on Friday 5th February to continue its run as Australia’s #1 drama with a total audience of approximately 1.685 million.
Congratulations to cast and crew on another fantastic series premiere.

DECEMBER MEDIA PRODUCES A NEW 3D FILM THAT’S OUT OF THIS WORLD

Filming has started on December Media’s 3D IMAX film Life in Space – a follow on from the box office success Hidden Universe 3D. With the Islands of Hawaii as its backdrop, Life in Space explores the tenacity of life, transforming lava deserts into living Edens. From the depths of the Pacific Ocean, to the ice moons of Jupiter and Saturn, beyond our solar system and out into the far reaches of space as we search for the essential elements needed to sustain life.

Life in Space is the second 3D film in December Media’s four-film journey into space. The third film Earth Story is due to start production in September this year. Like the very successful Hidden Universe 3D these will be produced in partnership with Swinburne University Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing with investment from Film Victoria. With the fourth film in development December Media is cementing its place as Australia’s only 3D Giant Screen production house.

December Media’s Head of Giant Screen Production Stephen Amezdroz says, “As knowledge of our planet grows, so to does our understanding of the possibilities out in universe. Biology is no longer just the science of life on one planet but of all planets. “A new science called Astrobiology is changing the way we think about life on Earth and beyond. In any great detective story if you profile your suspect you have a greater chance of finding them, and so it is with our search for life in space,” says Stephen. 3D Computer Generated Images are being created 8K per eye representing the highest levels of CGI detail yet used in an IMAX / Giant Screen Film anywhere in the world. Life in Space is due to be released in the summer of 2016.

December Media’s third film Earth Story takes us on a visual journey to see our world during its birth, its infancy and its adolescence. Earth Story allows viewers to see our home’s glorious history using the power of 3D IMAX to discover that our world was once stranger than science fiction and more visually spectacular than our wildest dreams.

For further enquiries contact

Kerrie Theobald E: kerrie@decembermedia.com.au M: 0417 998 552

THE DOCTOR DELIVERS GREAT RESULTS

The nominations for the 2015 AWGIEs have been announced.

December Media is thrilled that Stuart Page’s script for Darkness Visible in The Doctor Blake Mysteries, Series Three, has received a nomination in the Television – Series category.  Stuart has written for Series 1, 2, and 3.

Season three of The Doctor Blake Mysteries starring Craig McLachlan and Nadine Garner is the highest rating of all three series and is the number one returning drama series in Australia this year to date.

Season Four of The Doctor Blake Mysteries will start filming in early September. Producer George Adams said today “Stuart has been part of the Blake family since the beginning and for all of us story is everything, so it’s fantastic that Stuart’s script is getting Guild recognition, we couldn’t be more delighted. ”

December Media celebrates!

“We are not here today just to put brand-new stains on our brand-new flooring but to raise a glass to new beginnings… ”

So December Media’s Executive Chairman & Creative Director Tony Wright began the party to celebrate the remarkable achievement of the company’s 18 years as an Australian success story. Growing from a small factual business to a burgeoning drama production company and, now one of the biggest giant screen producers in the world.

Friends from the film and television world came together to raise a toast to the new offices, welcome the new CEO Stuart Menzies and celebrate the continued domestic and international success of the December Media product. It’s a bright future with many more innovative, exciting and entertaining ventures still to come.

Photos courtesy of jimleephoto.com

Executive Chairman of December Media Tony Wright announces the appointment of Stuart Menzies as new CEO.

After 10 years at the ABC Stuart has returned to the production sector. His roles at the ABC included six years as Head of Documentaries moving on to becoming the First Controller of ABC 2, which he grew into a vibrant, alternative offering for the national broadcaster.

Menzies replaces Heath Watt, who departed as the Sydney-based MD in early March for personal reasons.

Tony Wright said, “I have known Stuart for many years in different roles and I’m really excited by the energy and enthusiasm that he brings to his work. He is the right person to lead December Media and position the company at a time that it is doing so much dynamic work.”

Stuart Menzies said, “I loved my time at the ABC but I am an independent producer at heart. December Media has been a first rate company for many years producing a string of great shows and opportunities abound for growth.

Stuart and his family recently returned to Melbourne from Sydney and he has started in the new post.