Screen Australia was established under the Screen Australia Act 2008 and from 1 July 2008 took over the functions and appropriations of its predecessor agencies, the Australian Film Commission (AFC), the Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) and Film Australia Limited.

Throughout the 1990s and much of the 2000s, most Australian movies were low-to-mid budget productions securing limited or speciality release. The Australian film industry has been heavily criticised in recent years for its failure to reach large audiences, although the reality is that many Australian flicks during this period were produced for niche art-house audiences, rather than mass multiplex audiences. Since Screen Australia’s inception – although forces were in play during the Film Finance Corporation’s tenure – there has been a marked shift towards fostering large scale Australian movies produced for wide release.

Feature films under Australian or shared creative control earned $88.1 million or 7.2 per cent of the total Australian box office in 2015 (which includes any film earning box office in 2015, irrespective of its original year of release). This is up on the previous year, when the share was 2.4 per cent, and above the 10-year average of 4.3 per cent.

The no. 1 Australian film at the Australian box office is Crocodile Dundee (1986), with earnings of $47,707,045. Crocodile Dundee is also no. 10 on the list of top films at the Australian box office from any country, not just Australia; no. 1 on that list is Avatar, which has taken over $115 million at the Australian box office since its release in December 2009.

Distribution and production companies are the main sources of finance from the Australian film/TV industry, although broadcasters and subscription TV channels are also included.