Stan Walker film takes NZ$1m at box office

Stan Walker’s latest acting credit Born To Dance has taken in NZ$1 million at the Kiwi box office since its release four weeks ago, the country’s most successful domestic film this year.

The film has taken in $1,062,982 since its NZ opening on September 24. This week it hit #10 on the New Zealand Box Office Top 10 with $68,992, but sat at #6 last week.

The Australian-born artist was initially brought into the fold for the film’s soundtrack, but its writers Steve Barr, Hone Kouka and Casey Whelan eventually wrote in Walker’s character Benjy.

Born To Dance, New Zealand’s first dance movie, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and on Monday premiered in Sydney.

Speaking to AAP in Sydney on Monday night Walker said:“My whole goal with the film was just to get music in it and then six months down the track they rang me up and they said ’We’d love to give you a big part in the film’, so they actually wrote my character in there.”

The official soundtrack for the film was released on September 18 through Sony Music and was curated by P-Money. The release features Walker’s latest track with Samantha Jade, Start Again.

The film marks the directorial debut by Tammy Davis who played Mookie in the internationally renowned NZ film What Becomes of the Broken Hearted, but is best known for his role as Munter in TV drama Outrageous Fortune.

Born To Dance was choreographed by Parris Goebel (Jennifer Lopez, Cirque du Soleil), who acted and co-choreographed in the fifth instalment of the Step Up franchise.

Walker first entered public consciousness in 2009, when he won the seventh and final season of Australian Idol. Recently Walker became a judge on New Zealand’s X Factor and in July this year he released his fifth studio album, Truth & Soul. The long player hit #7 on the ARIA chart and #3 in New Zealand.

Born To Dance marks Walker’s second feature film following Mt Zion; he’s also set to appear in the upcoming comedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople, starring Sam Neill and Rhys Darby.