''Paper Planes'' is a 2015 Australian 3D

children's A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Robert Connolly Robert Connolly (born 1967) is an Australian film director, producer and screenwriter based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. He is best known as the director and writer of the feature films ''Balibo (film), Balibo'', ''Three Dollars' ...

, which he co-wrote with Steve Worland and co-produced with Liz Kearney and Maggie Miles. The film stars

Sam Worthington Samuel Henry John Worthington (born 2 August 1976) is an Australian actor. He is best known for playing Jake Sully in ''Avatar'' and its sequel, ''Avatar: The Way of Water''; Marcus Wright in ''Terminator Salvation'', and Perseus in '' Clash o ...

David Wenham David Wenham (born 21 September 1965) is an Australian actor who has appeared in film, television and theatre. He is known for his roles as Faramir in ''The Lord of the Rings'' film trilogy, Friar Carl in ''Van Helsing'', Dilios in ''300'' and ...

Deborah Mailman Deborah Jane Mailman (born 14 July 1972) is an Australian television and film actress, and singer. Mailman played the character Kelly Lewis on the Australian television series ''The Secret Life of Us'' and Cherie Butterfield in the Australian c ...

, and

Ed Oxenbould Ed Oxenbould (born 1 June 2001) is an Australian actor. He rose to prominence for his role in the film '' Julian'' (2012). Subsequently, he appeared in the television series ''Puberty Blues'' (2012–2014) and became more well-known for his rol ...

. The film tells a story about Dylan, a young boy who lives in Australia, who finds out that he has a talent for making

paper planes A paper plane (also known as a paper airplane in American English or paper aeroplane in British English) is a toy aircraft, usually a glider made out of single folded sheet of paper or paperboard. A simple nose-heavy paper plane, thrown like ...

and dreams of competing in the World Paper Plane Championships in Japan. It opened in Australian cinemas on 15 January 2015 on 253 screens by Roadshow Films. It grossed A$9.61 million at the Australian box office by the end of its run. The story is loosely inspired by an episode of ''

Australian Story ''Australian Story'' is a national weekly current affairs and documentary style television series which is broadcast on ABC Television. It is produced specifically by the ABC News and Current Affairs Department. The program first aired on 29 ...

'' called "Fly With Me", and was the centre of a second episode, "The Meaning of Life". ''Paper Planes'' was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 24 June 2015 by

Roadshow Entertainment Roadshow Entertainment (formerly known as Roadshow Home Video from 1982–1993) is an Australian home video, production and distribution company that is a division of Village Roadshow (formerly Roadshow Home Video and Roadshow Entertainment) th ...

Cast

as Jack Webber *

as Dylan Webber * Ena Imai as Kimi Muroyama * Nicholas Bakopoulos-Cooke as Jason Jones *

Julian Dennison Julian Bailey Dennison (born 26 October 2002) is a New Zealand actor. He debuted in the 2013 film ''Shopping'', for which he won the English Film and Television Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is known for his roles as Ricky Baker in '' Hunt ...

as Kevin *

as Patrick Jones *

as Maureen Prescott * Peter Rowsthorn as Mr. Hickenlooper *

Terry Norris Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine). People Male * Terry Albritton (1955–2005), Am ...

as George "Grandpa" Webber

Production

On 9 November 2013, filming had begun in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

and in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

with Robert Connolly directing. Sam Worthington, David Wenham, Julian Dennison, and Ed Oxenbould star in the film. Principal photography took place in both country and metro Western Australia, though the film states the setting as being in New South Wales (given they "drive down to Sydney"). Locations used for filming include an abandoned school in Roleystone, an old house in Baldivis,

HBF Stadium Perth Superdrome, known as HBF Stadium under a commercial naming rights arrangement, is a sports complex in Perth, Western Australia. It is home to the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS). The venue is located in the suburb of Mount Cl ...

(previously known as Challenge Stadium until 2014),

Whiteman Park Whiteman Park is a bushland area located north of Perth, Western Australia. The park is in the suburb of Whiteman, in the Swan Valley in the upper reaches of the Swan River. It encompasses the source of Bennett Brook - an important place o ...

, the

Perth Zoo Perth Zoo is a zoological park in South Perth, Western Australia. The zoo first opened in 1898 and by 2011 housed 1258 animals of 164 species and an extensive botanical collection. It is a full institutional member of the Zoo and Aquarium Ass ...

, and the Aviation Heritage Museum in Bull Creek.

Release

''Paper Planes'' was released in theaters throughout Australia on 15 January 2015, and on DVD and Blu-ray on 24 June 2015 by

Critical response and box office

This film holds an 85% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 26 reviews. By the end of its run, it had grossed A$9.61 million at the Australian box office. Simon Weaving of Screenwize called the film, "a wholesome, feel-good tale of a primary school underdog who dreams of getting to the world paper plane championships in Japan." Jim Schembri of 3AW wrote in his review, "In one of the great career gear shifts in recent memory, Melbourne director Robert Connolly, who gave us such searing dramas as '' The Bank'', ''

Three Dollars ''Three Dollars'' is a 2005 Australian film directed by Robert Connolly and starring David Wenham, Sarah Wynter, and Frances O'Connor. It was based on a 1998 novel of the same name by Elliot Perlman. It won the 2005 Australian Film Institute ...

'', and ''

Balibo Balibo is a town in East Timor situated approximately from the Indonesian border. It is located in the subdistrict of Balibo, Bobonaro District. It was estimated by Human Rights Watch that 70 per cent of the town was destroyed during th ...

'', delivers an adorable family film that is uplifting, warm, winning, and most of all, funny." Fiona Williams of sbs.com.au says, "there's a lot to like in ''Paper Planes' '' ideas about ingenuity and resilience, and that may bode well for getting bums off the beach and onto seats in the film's late summer school holiday release period." While the film performed strongly at the box office domestically in Australia, it was less successful in its international debut (U.K./Ireland,) opening at number 47 and earning £4,381 in its opening weekend (23–25 October 2015.) The film was released in Spain on 1 January 2016 (the film's only European theatrical release as of February 2016) and opened at number 29 with a gross of US$7,577 from 21 screens, for a per-theater average of $361.

Awards

Soundtrack

* "Paper Planes" * "Beauty in the World" * "Ready to Launch" * "Flight Research" * "My Journey Starts Here" * "Dog Fight" * "A Bird That Cannot Fly" * "Pavane" * "Take Your Positions" * "Do Emus Dream of Flying?" * "The Final Challenge" * "Is There a Movie on This Flight?" * "Tokyo by Night" * "The Competition" * "For as Long as it Takes" * "Learn to Live"

Book

Steve Worland, who co-wrote ''Paper Planes'', novelised the screenplay into a best-selling book for young readers. It was published on 2 January 2015 through

Puffin Books Puffin Books is a longstanding children's imprint of the British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s, it has been among the largest publishers of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world. The imprint now belongs t ...

. It includes directions on how to fold a paper plane, photographs from the film, and notes about the production.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 3328716, Paper Planes
''Paper Planes'' scene clips and featurette
at SBS Movies 2015 films Australian children's drama films Australian 3D films Paper planes Films scored by Nigel Westlake Films shot in Perth, Western Australia Films shot in Tokyo Films set in Sydney 2015 drama films 2010s English-language films Screen Australia films Roadshow Entertainment films