The speculation and mystery can finally be laid to rest. The new supposedDundeemovie is really just aSuper Bowlcommercial starring Danny McBride, Chris Hemsworth and more than likely, Paul Hogan, in an effort to boost tourism to Australia. Late last week, a trailer popped up out of nowhere along with a website promising another installment in the Crocodile Dundee franchise starring McBride as Hogan’s son, Brian. Additionally, Chris Hemsworth, akaThor, popped up in a new clip for the supposed movie, leading to many more questions about the validity ofDundee.
Australia’s Brisbane Times reports that the whole setup is an elaborate publicity stunt by Tourism Australia. It was pretty much a 50/50 split on whether theDundeemovie was real or not and the Super Bowl commercial seemed like the best bet. The Brisbane Times indicates that industry insiders tipped them off that all of the viral marketing over the last week has been for a commercial instead of a movie that was reportedly filmed in secret and expected to be released this June.
People Magazine had an exclusive interview with Crocodile Dundee starPaul HoganandDanny McBride, which seemed to have legitimized the whole idea of aDundeemovie. Hogan mentioned that it was time to bring the franchise to a whole new generation and McBride playing the loud-mouthed American version of Dundee’s son was not a far stretch. Everything was so believable that it actually led to some controversy. Many critics took to writing articles declaring that the originalCrocodile Dundeemovies were racist and homophobic, which led to questions on why a reboot would happen in the first place. However, it seemed that just as many people were outraged at the thought of Danny McBride having anything to do with the project.
The Brisbane Times also notes that Steve Rogers, who is listed onDundeeas the director, is a well-known commercial director in Australia. The website for the fake movie is incredibly well done and even features the Screen Australia logo along with the Rimfire Films logo also prominently shown. However, Screen Australia has no record ofDundeein their database, even though IMDB has a page up with an estimated budget of $30 million.Tourism Australiahas yet to make a statement and more than likely will not until after the Super Bowl airs.
It looks like we’ll probably see a shortDundeefilm spread out over the course of Super Bowl LII, which seems like the most logical direction for the commercial to unfold. While it’s logical, it’s really expensive as well. It’s estimated that over 100 million Americans will tune in to watch the big game this year and Fox is able to command $5 million for a 30-second commercial spot, so there could be some truth to the $30 million budget forDundee. Whatever the case may be,Dundeehas already done an amazing job of stoking the hype before Super Bowl LII. The original report comes to us from theThe Brisbane Times.
