Kakadu Tourism marked the 40th anniversary of Crocodile Dundee’s release in the United States on 26 September 1986, crediting the film with transforming Australia’s tourism industry and putting the Kakadu region on the international map.
The film, starring Paul Hogan as Mick Dundee, opened on 879 screens in the US and grossed US$174.8 million (approximately AU$250 million) at the US box office – behind only Top Gun as the highest-grossing film in the US that year. It became the highest-grossing film in Australian history.
Australia’s inbound tourism numbers rose sharply in the years following the film’s release. International visitor numbers grew from 904,558 in 1980 – including 113,964 Americans – to 2.14 million by 1990, after two Crocodile Dundee films had been released, with American visitor numbers rising to 251,500 over the same period.
Tourism Australia’s Consumer Demand Project, published in June 2024, found Crocodile Dundee was the most spontaneously recalled film or TV show set in Australia among travellers who factor “setjetting” into their choice of holiday destination.
Lauren Ganley, chair of Kakadu Tourism, said the film’s locations – including Gunlom waterfall, the infinity rock pools, and the Nourlangie and Ubirr rock art sites – introduced audiences to the region’s landscape and to Aboriginal cultural heritage spanning 65,000 years.
“Operating in a remote destination like Kakadu comes with challenges, from air access and rising fuel costs to the impacts of natural disasters,” Ganley said, welcoming recent government investment in road and park infrastructure.
Ganley said Kakadu Tourism and Tourism & Events Northern Territory recently hosted a media familiarisation visit to locations featured in the film, during which travel writers met Delvene Delaney, wife of Crocodile Dundee writer and producer John Cornell, who produced an Encore Cut of the film last year.
Kakadu Tourism has released a self-guided tour of locations from the first two films, available via its website. The film will screen at Darwin’s Deckchair Cinema on Saturday 26 September.
