Top 10 Greatest Movies Made In South Africa

In recent times, South Africa is not only being seen as a financially viable nation but also a place to make some high-quality movies that are critically acclaimed both locally within South Africa and internationally. There have been several great moves either made in or made about South Africa over the last couple of years. We are beginning to see great movies from thrillers to wildlife, histories, social realism to lyrical wildlife documentaries, romance, and comedy. We’ve come up with 10 of the very best movies that are either made in South Africa or made about South Africa and we hope you’ll find them interesting. Here goes the list of 10 Greatest Movies Made in South Africa:

10 Most Successful Movies Made in South Africa

District 9 (2009): 52 Nominations, and 4 Oscar Nominations, 14 Wins

Gross: $210,819,611

This 2009 movie made money and won numerous awards, grossing over $210 million dollars including four Oscar nominations and 52 other nominations. Perhaps the best thing however was the fact that virtually the entire cast and crew, including director Neill Blomkamp and stars Sharlto Copley, Jason Cope and Nathalie Boltt were all South Africans with the exception of Peter Jackson who is an American and of course the money.

Blood Diamond: 17 Nominations, and 5 Oscar Nominations, 7 Wins

Gross: $171,407,179

A fisherman, a smuggler, and a syndicate of businessmen match wits over the possession of a priceless diamond. Blood Diamonds is a True Story Documentary of Sierra Leone, Angola, and the Republic of the Congo.

Invictus (2009): 21 Nominations, 2 Oscar Nominations, 7 Wins

Gross: $122,233,971

Invictus is about a newly elected President Mandela who knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa’s underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.

2010 was the year of South Africa. Invictus brings an epic story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon), to help unite their country.

Tsotsi (2005): 12 Nominations, 13 Wins, and 1 Oscar Win

Gross: $9,879,971

Six days in the violent life of a young Johannesburg gang leader (Chweneyagae).

Shot in 2005, in Johannesburg, the movie is an adaptation of the book, Athol Fugard’s novel, Tsotsi. After it was released, it won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006.

Chronicle (2012): 1 Nominations, 1 Win

Gross: $126,636,097

Three high school students make an incredible discovery, leading to them developing uncanny powers beyond their understanding. As they learn to control their abilities and use them to their advantage, their lives start to spin out of control, and their darker sides begin to take over. Chronicle movie trailer 2012 is presented in full HD 1080p high resolution.

Chronicle Trailer 2012 – Official movie trailer in HD – first trailer of the film written by Max Landis and directed by Josh Trank (“Big Fan”). The cast includes Michael B. Jordan, Alex Russell and Dane DeHaan

Safe House (2012): 5 Nominations

Gross: $208,076,205

A young CIA agent is tasked with looking after a fugitive in a safe house. But when the safe house is attacked, he finds himself on the run with his charge.

Lord of War (2005): 1 Nominations, 1 Win

Gross $72,617,068

An arms dealer confronts the morality of his work as he is being chased by an Interpol agent. The highly popular movie drew from real life war experiences.

Because of its theme of arms trafficking, the movie has been endorsed by the Amnesty International.

10,000 BC (2008)

Gross: $269,784,201

This fascinating movie is a prehistoric epic that follows a young mammoth hunter’s journey through uncharted territory to secure the future of his tribe.

The movie began shooting in South Africa before it moved to Namibia, and later some parts were shot in New Zealand then Thailand.

Dredd (2012)

Gross: $32,759,615

In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury, and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO.

A British comic strip, the 3D movie was completely shot in the Western Cape.

Last House on The Left (2009): 3 Nominations, 1 Win

Gross: $45,286,228

Last House is a remake to a 1972 original movie by Wes Craven. It is an interesting horror movie that was initially supposed to be shot in the United Staes, Westport Connecticut. However, because of the fear of bad weather, it was changed to Cape Town, South Africa.

References

  1. MST3K: Space Mutiny *Eccentric Cinema, Winnwe”.
  2. Internet Movie Database  at the Internet Movie Database
  3. Best of the web 2007″. Entertainment Weekly.
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