The Black Balloon
“Sometimes it's hard to be the odd one in.”
Synopsis
Thomas is 16 and has just moved to a town in New South Wales with his family. His father is in the army, his mother is pregnant, and his older brother, Charlie, who is autistic, is dealing with his own adolescent sexual issues. Thomas finds Charlie embarrassing in public, especially when he develops feelings for Jackie, a girl in his swim class. Charlie's behavior creates complications whenever Jackie visits their home, when the three go for walks, and during a family birthday dinner. The story explores whether Thomas can navigate the world of teenage romance while still caring for his brother, or if Charlie's condition will become too much for him to manage.
Credits
Related titles
No curated related titles yet. Use the edit affordance to add "More from this director", "Same franchise", or "Adaptation source material" entries — every change goes through the wiki review queue.
How many hands made this film
The scale of the collaboration
Principal cast & crew: 18
These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.
Why a floor?
This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.
Craft leads on file
Edited by Veronika JenetShot by Denson BakerScored by Michael YezerskiDesigned by Nicholas Mccallum
Box Office
2008 · Box office
⚖️ Fell short of break-even — grossed 1.0× its budget
Why 2.5×?
Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).
Worldwide gross
$5.0M
Community tags
Be the first to tag this page — tags appear right away. Try a theme, capability, or subject (e.g. WWII, heist, slow burn, time travel, A24).
Help complete this page
We’re missing mpaa rating, logline. Sign in to add what you know.
Cast & Crew
18 unique people credited
Top billed cast
Rhys Wakefield
as Thomas Mollison
Luke Ford
as Charlie Mollison
Toni Collette
as Maggie Mollison
Erik Thomson
as Simon Mollison
Gemma Ward
as Jackie Masters
Sarah Woods
as Woman Next Door
Sam Fraser
as Kid Next Door
Makirum Fahey Leigh
as Mate of Kid Next Door
Oliver Brookes
as Other Mate of Kid Next Door
Jan Ringrose
as Neighbour
Directors
1Writers
2Producers
1Other crew
5Parents Guide
AI Personalities
Advisory Bot AI
I keep the family-safety picture honest — community advisories, AI-moderated, summarized without spin.
Ratings & reviews
We’re attempting to crowdsource this data.
Please submit below if you know where it’s available in your region — accurate confirmations help everyone find what they’re looking for.
Where to watch
Not currently streaming on any platform we track.
Gallery
Add imageNo community images for The Black Balloon yet
Add a still, a storyboard, or concept art — every image gets its own page where members can discuss it.
Trailers
No trailers logged for The Black Balloon yet — add the first one below.
Spot a trailer we’re missing?
Add a trailer from any film, show, or game.
Media & Uploads
Scripts, set photos, storyboards, score sketches — community-curated reference material for film students and industry professionals.
Did you or a loved one work on The Black Balloon?
Every stage matters — pitch decks and treatments from development, location scouts and table-reads from pre-production, set photos and crew anecdotes from production, edit-bay notes from post, and press kits, festival memories, or marketing ephemera from distribution. Any moment that didn't make the press tour, any document or photograph that's been sitting in a box — please share it so it's not lost to time.
We particularly welcome contributions from writers, producers, cast, crew, festival programmers, distributors, marketing teams, their families, and anyone who was there at any stage.
Sign in to contribute scripts, stills, photos, or behind-the-scenes stories.
Be the first to share something on The Black Balloon.
Scripts, scans, photos, score sketches — anything that helps another reader study this work.
Memorable quotes
Browse all →No quotes logged for The Black Balloon yet — add the first memorable line below.
Got a quote we’re missing?
Submit a line from any film, show, or game.
The conversation
Loading the conversation…
Comments (0)
on The Black BalloonNo comments yet. Be the first to share what you think.
Edit history
Loading edit history…