The Last Wave backdrop
The Last Wave poster
#10,378 All-time worldwide
#47 1977 releases

Movie profile

The Last Wave

1977 · 106 min · Australian Film Commission

Drama Mystery Horror
IMDb FilmDB Where to watch

Box office snapshot

Financial performance

Reference figures based on available reported data.
Worldwide gross $2.1M
Budget $825,000
Gross minus budget $1.3M
ROI 2.57x

Domestic gross

$1.0M

Estimated from worldwide gross

International gross

$1.1M

Estimated from worldwide gross

Opening weekend

$438,445

Estimated from worldwide gross

Ranking context

Where The Last Wave ranks

Positioned across the all-time chart, release year, studio, franchise and genre indexes where enough mapped data exists.
Open rankings
All-time worldwide #10,378 All-time chart position of 12,922 titles Compared with every rankable movie in the current worldwide dataset. 1977 releases #47 Release-year chart position of 69 titles Ranked against movies released in 1977. Studio / company #1 Australian Film Commission of 3 titles Position inside the mapped Australian Film Commission movie set. Primary genre #4,529 Drama of 5,859 titles Genre context based on the first mapped genre on this profile.

Nearby worldwide ranks

Comparable titles immediately around this movie by reported worldwide gross.

#10,375 The Outpost 2020 · $2.1M #10,376 Breakheart Pass 1975 · $2.1M #10,377 Windows 1980 · $2.1M #10,379 Mallrats 1995 · $2.1M #10,380 Videodrome 1983 · $2.1M #10,381 The Nutcracker 1993 · $2.1M

Quick answer

How did The Last Wave (1977) perform at the box office?

High confidence

The Last Wave (1977) earned a reported $2.1M worldwide against a reported $825.0K production budget. Its gross-minus-budget figure is about $1.3M. The current gross-to-budget multiple is 2.57x. In this database it currently ranks #10,378 in the current all-time worldwide chart set and #47 among 1977 releases.

Worldwide gross
$2,124,250
Budget
$825,000
Gross minus budget
$1,299,250
ROI
2.57x
Source: TMDb. Last updated: Jul 13, 2026. View source Gross-minus-budget is not studio net profit. It excludes marketing, distribution fees, revenue splits, tax incentives and later home/streaming revenue.

Synopsis

Story

A Sydney lawyer defends five Aboriginal people in a ritualised taboo murder and in the process learns disturbing truths about himself and premonitions.

Movie facts

Production details

Release date
Dec 15, 1977
Production
Australian Film Commission, McElroy & McElroy, Derek Power
Countries
AU

Related indexes

Browse related box office pages

Studio / production companyAustralian Film Commission Release year chart1977 box office Genre chartDrama Genre chartMystery Genre chartHorror

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Where to watch

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AI summary

Why this movie matters

Released in 1977, The Last Wave is positioned in this dataset as a Drama, Mystery, Horror title from Australian Film Commission. Its box office profile shows that available worldwide gross is $2.1M, reported production budget is $825,000, gross-minus-budget is $1.3M, ROI is 2.57x. For comparison, it currently sits #10,378 all-time in the current chart set and #47 among 1977 releases. Streaming availability should be checked against the selected United States region because provider rights can change.

AI-generated contextual summary based on available movie, genre, ranking and box office data. It does not replace official distributor notes or financial reporting.
Data noteGross minus budget is not studio net profit. It excludes marketing, distribution fees, revenue splits, tax incentives and downstream revenue. Domestic, international and opening weekend figures marked as estimated are modelled estimates.