A week into its run at Reading Cinemas, the little Aussie movie filmed in our backyard, Prime Mover, is faring very well.

The heart-string tugging film, which was filmed around Dubbo and in various parts of the outback, has drawn more viewers than the Michael Jackson documentary This Is It.

Cinema manager Michael Wakelam said more than 1000 people have watched Prime Mover, which stars the likes of Gyton Grantley, Ben Mendelsohn and William McInnes, in its opening week.

The story revolves around a long haul truckie who “finds that the reality of his existence is far removed from his youthful dreams of owning and driving his own prime mover”.

It also features a number of locals in bit parts, including the Daily Liberal’s own Bill North.

It is for this reason that Mr Wakelam believes the movie is proving so popular.

“It’s our number one movie and it is up against Michael Jackson, which is a great effort,” Mr Wakelam said.

“A lot of people are going to see people and places they know and there is always a snicker in the cinema when people see someone they recognise.”

This Is It opened to rave reviews in the United States and has also been popular among Dubbo crowds in its first week.

It features footage of the ill-fated King of Pop rehearsing for a series of concerts he was scheduled to perform in London.

“It’s a great movie but very sad because we know we will never see the concerts he was rehearsing for,” Mr Wakelam said.

Session times for each movie can be found on page 50 of today’s Daily Liberal.

ben.walker@ruralpress. com