Australian movies about orphans

List of the best Australian movies about orphans selected by visitors to our site: Oranges and Sunshine, The Children of Huang Shi, Santa's Apprentice, The Lego Batman Movie, December Boys, 33 Postcards, Walking with Dinosaurs, Red Hill, John Doe: Vigilante, Snowtown.

In the top there are new films of 2023, a plot description and trailers for films that have already been released.

Country
Markimdb: 7.1
Genredrama, biography, history
CountryUnited Kingdom, Australia
Duration01:45

The story of Margaret Humphreys, a social worker from Nottingham, who uncovers one of the most significant social scandals in recent times – the forced migration of children from the United Kingdom. Almost singlehandedly, Margaret reunited thousands of families, brought authorities to account and worldwide attention to an extraordinary miscarriage of justice.

Markimdb: 7
Genredrama, military
CountryAustralia, China, Germany, USA
Duration02:05

About young British journalist, George Hogg, who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genrecomedy, family, cartoon
CountryFrance, Belgium, Australia, Republic of Ireland
Duration01:31

Santa doesn't want to retire, but rules are rules and he must train someone to replace him. The lucky winner, to be chosen from among millions of children, must be named Nicholas, be an orphan and have a pure heart. On the other side of the planet, there is a little boy who is a perfect match, but his lack of self-confidence and fear of heights make him a poor contestant. Will Santa agree to step down, and help his apprentice take his place?

Markimdb: 7.3
Genrefantastic, action, fantasy, comedy, adventure, family, cartoon
CountryUSA, Denmark, Australia
Duration01:51

In the irreverent spirit of fun that made “The Lego Movie” a worldwide phenomenon, the self-described leading man of that ensemble—Lego Batman—stars in his own big-screen adventure. But there are big changes brewing in Gotham, and if he wants to save the city from The Joker’s hostile takeover, Batman may have to drop the lone vigilante thing, try to work with others and maybe, just maybe, learn to lighten up.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genremelodrama, drama
CountryAustralia, Germany, USA
Duration01:45

For many years, four teenage orphans at an Australian outback convent have watched their younger comrades find new parents, and realize that they may never be adopted. The Reverend Mother sends the four boys away on a seaside vacation, where they meet Teresa and Fearless, a couple who would make perfect parents. The youths compete with one another to be the one Teresa and Fearless decide to adopt.

Markimdb: 6.2
Genredrama, crime, music
CountryChina, Australia
Duration01:37

Dean Randall has sponsored a young Chinese orphan Mei Mei for many years, when she arrives in Sydney out of the blue to thank him, their lives are changed forever.

Markimdb: 5.2
Genrefamily
CountryUnited Kingdom, Australia, USA
Duration01:27

Walking with Dinosaurs 3D is a film depicting life-like 3D dinosaur characters set in photo-real landscapes that transports audiences to the prehistoric world as it existed 70 million years ago. The film is based on the 1999 documentary television miniseries Walking with Dinosaurs, produced by the BBC. Walking with Dinosaurs 3D is being produced by Evergreen Studios, the company that produced Happy Feet, and it is was released on October 11, 2013.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genrethriller, drama, western, crime
CountryAustralia
Duration01:37

Young police officer Shane Cooper's first day on duty, after relocating to the small town of Red Hill, rapidly turns into a nightmare. News of a prison break, involving convicted murderer Jimmy Conway, sends the local law enforcement officers - led by the town's ruling presence, Old Bill - into a panic and leads to a terrifying and bloody confrontation.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genrethriller, crime
CountryAustralia
Duration01:33

When John Doe is convicted of being a vigilante serial killer, a vigilante group named 'Speak for the Dead' emerges in support of John's cause—elevating the debate about justice versus vengeance.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genrethriller, drama, crime, biography
CountryAustralia
Duration02:00

Based on true events, 16 year-old Jamie falls in with his mother's new boyfriend and his crowd of self-appointed neighborhood watchmen, a relationship that leads to a spree of torture and murder.

Markimdb: 8.3
Genredrama
CountryAustralia

A mysterious woman is perched between the harsh legacy of World War II and the hope of a new life in Australia. A sweeping romantic drama set in 1950s rural Australia following the lives of the Blighs, a wealthy and complicated pastoralist family, who lives in Inverness, NSW.

Markimdb: 7.4
Genrethriller, detective
CountryAustralia
Duration01:00

Beneath the placid facade of Canberra, amidst rising tension between China and America, senior political journalist Harriet Dunkley uncovers a secret city of interlocked conspiracies, putting innocent lives in danger including her own.

Markimdb: 7.7
Genreaction, thriller, drama, crime, detective
CountryAustralia
Duration01:00

Jack Irish is a man getting his life back together again. A former criminal lawyer whose world imploded, he now spends his days as a part-time investigator, debt collector, apprentice cabinet maker, punter and sometime lover – the complete man really. An expert in finding those who don’t want to be found – dead or alive, Jack helps out his mates while avoiding the past. That is until the past finds him.

Markimdb: 2.7
Genrecomedy, drama, crime
CountryAustralia
Duration01:26

A remake of 'Reservoir Dogs' by Quentin Tarantino, with the noticeable difference that all the male characters have been replaced with female ones.

Markimdb: 5.7
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama, musical, adventure, family, cartoon
CountryUSA, Australia
Duration01:09

Lady and Tramp's mischievous pup, Scamp, gets fed up with rules and restrictions imposed on him by life in a family, and longs for a wild and free lifestyle. He runs away from home and into the streets where he joins a pack of stray dogs known as the "Junkyard Dogs." Buster, the pack's leader, takes an instant disliking to the "house-dog" and considers him a rival. Angel, a junkyard pup Scamp's age, longs for the safety and comfort of life in a family and the two become instant companions. Will Scamp choose the wild and free life of a stray or the unconditional love of his family?

Markimdb: 7.7
Genredrama
CountryAustralia

The uncensored story of one of Australia's most successful bands, INXS. A story of mateship, a story of success and excess, talent and sheer bloody will, set to a pulsating soundtrack including all of INXSs greatest hits.

Markimdb: 5.2
Genrecomedy, melodrama
CountryAustralia
Duration01:37

A heartbroken young man decides to walk 4000km up the coast of Western Australia naked, for charity, with the secret goal of making his ex-girlfriend jealous.

Markimdb: 3.3
Genrefantastic, action, fantasy, adventure
CountryAustralia
Duration01:25

In 1943, five US soldiers are recruited by the OSS for a time travel mission to save the world from the tyranny of Hitler's 25th Reich.

Markimdb: 4.5
Genrehorror, action, thriller, drama, adventure
CountryAustralia

An adventure-loving couple convince their friends to explore a remote, uncharted cave system in the forests of Northern Australia. With a tropical storm approaching, they abseil into the mouth of the cave, but when the caves start to flood, tensions rise as oxygen levels fall and the friends find themselves trapped. Unknown to them, the storm has also brought in a pack of dangerous and hungry crocodiles.

Markimdb: 4.8
Genrehorror, fantastic, action, thriller, detective
CountryAustralia
Duration01:27

A group of elite soldiers sent to infiltrate and extract the lead science team from Pine Gap, Australia's top secret underground military compound, after it comes under attack from unknown forces. The mission is compromised when they encounter a young woman with no memory of who she is or how she came to be there. As they try to escape, the group quickly discovers all is not as it seems and the facility has become a testing ground for something far more sinister.

Markimdb: 8.5
Genremelodrama, drama, musical, adventure, family, cartoon
CountryUSA, Australia
Duration01:29

A young lion cub named Simba can't wait to be king. But his uncle craves the title for himself and will stop at nothing to get it.

Markimdb: 6.4
Genreadventure, family
CountryAustralia

The story of Allan "Swampy" Marsh and his Maremma dog Oddball. Swampy convinced local authorities to allow Oddball to protect a colony of Little Penguins on Middle Island from wild cats and dogs. Oddball succeeds in his campaign and becomes a front runner for Maremma dogs being used to protect other endangered Australian wildlife.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genrethriller, crime
CountryAustralia
Duration01:43

In 1983, a naive man is detained by Australian Federal Police with lethal narcotics hidden in his stomach. After being apprehended, ‘The Mule’ makes a desperate choice... to defy his bodily functions and withhold the evidence – literally.

Markimdb: 4.9
Genrethriller
CountryAustralia

American high school sweethearts, Wade and Lisa, travel to Australia to experience nature at its finest. As their relationship strains, they head inland to Uluru, navigating remote dirt roads with an unreliable GPS. Soon, they find themselves stranded and ill- prepared and, with only each other to rely on, the two are driven to extremes in order to stay alive in the harsh and unforgiving Outback.

Markimdb: 5.9
Genredrama, detective
CountryAustralia
Duration01:33

Four friends lose themselves in a carefree South-East Asian holiday. Only three come back. Dave and Alice return home to their young family desperate for answers about Jeremy's mysterious disappearance. When Alice's sister Steph returns not long after, a nasty secret is revealed about the night her boyfriend went missing. But it is only the first of many. Who amongst them knows what happened on that fateful night when they were dancing under a full moon in Cambodia?

Markimdb: 7.3
Genrethriller, drama
CountryAustralia

Based on true events, "Nitram" lives with his parents in suburban Australia in the mid-90s. He lives a life of isolation and frustration at never fitting in. As his anger grows, he begins a slow descent into a nightmare that culminates in the most heinous of acts.

Markimdb: 6.1
Genreaction, drama, adventure, family, military
CountryAustralia

This dramatic adventure series tells the story of a group of teenagers who are separated from their families following an invasion of their country, a conflict they never saw coming.

Markimdb: 6
Genreadventure, crime, detective
CountryAustralia

After freeing a young Bedouin girl from her unjust imprisonment in Jerusalem, an Australian adventuress, together with her devoted police detective friend, begins to unravel a decade-old mystery concerning priceless emeralds, an ancient curse and the disappearance of the girl's mother and massacre of her tribe.

Markimdb: 6
Genrehorror, comedy
CountryAustralia

Reg and Lindsay run an organic fertiliser business. They need a fresh supply of their "secret ingredient" to process through the meat grinder. Reg comes across two guys and a girl with a broken-down vehicle on their way to a music festival.

Markimdb: 4.5
Genrethriller
CountryUSA, Australia
Duration01:27

Ray Liotta stars as Jack Malloy, a hardcore career criminal until a near-death experience causes him to turn his world around. But when his former partner Drake is released from prison, he tracks Jack down to blackmail him into one last job. Jack is a new man determined to lead an honest life. Drake is a charming psycho intent on vengeance. Sometimes, old friends can carry some extreme baggage. And for one of them, coming to terms with the past is going to be murder. Vanessa Gray and Andy McPhee co-star in this taut action/drama about good intentions, dark secrets and the harsh consequences of BAD KARMA.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genrethriller
CountryAustralia

Driving cross-country to a job interview, Colin takes a short cut and comes across a fatal road accident. One of the drivers, Jina, is shaken but unhurt; the other has been killed instantly. Beside the dead body is a briefcase full of money, which Colin turns in to the local police. But getting out of town proves a nightmare, as Colin's good deed causes a series of bizarre events to unfold.

Markimdb: 8.1
Genrefantastic, action, thriller, adventure
CountryAustralia, South Africa
Duration02:30

An apocalyptic story set in the furthest reaches of our planet, in a stark desert landscape where humanity is broken, and most everyone is crazed fighting for the necessities of life. Within this world exist two rebels on the run who just might be able to restore order. There's Max, a man of action and a man of few words, who seeks peace of mind following the loss of his wife and child in the aftermath of the chaos. And Furiosa, a woman of action and a woman who believes her path to survival may be achieved if she can make it across the desert back to her childhood homeland.

Markimdb: 4.7
Genrecomedy
CountryAustralia

When a pop-star cousin comes to stay, a family's once normal life changes drastically.

Markimdb: 5.7
Genrefantasy, comedy, adventure, family
CountryUSA, United Kingdom, Australia
Duration02:24

Living a bleak existence at a London orphanage, 12-year-old Peter finds himself whisked away to the fantastical world of Neverland. Adventure awaits as he meets new friend James Hook and the warrior Tiger Lily. They must band together to save Neverland from the ruthless pirate Blackbeard. Along the way, the rebellious and mischievous boy discovers his true destiny, becoming the hero forever known as Peter Pan.

Markimdb: 4.8
Genrehorror, thriller
CountryAustralia
Duration01:21

Anja and five friends join anthroplogy student, Dace, on a journey to study a remote, ancient rock painting. Their excitement vanishes when Mel becomes delirious after skinny-dipping in the waterhole. Feverish, bleeding, confused, she physically and mentally regresses to a vicious predatory state. Mel has gone primal. Mel’s lover and friends realise they are the prey as she savagely hunts them down. Before they can escape another one of them starts to regress, posing a hideous choice; kill their friends or be killed by them. Their only hope of survival is through a cave, where Anja learns too late the meaning of the ancient rock art they came to study.

Markimdb: 6.3
Genrehorror, drama
CountryAustralia
Duration02:19

After being infected in the wake of a violent pandemic and with only 48 hours to live, a father struggles to find a new home for his baby daughter.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genremelodrama, drama
CountryUnited Kingdom, New Zealand, USA, India, Australia
Duration02:40

A lighthouse keeper and his wife living off the coast of Western Australia raise a baby they rescue from an adrift rowboat.

Markimdb: 5.8
Genrehorror, thriller
CountryAustralia

When young urbanites Ian and Sam decide to go camping, they arrive at their isolated destination to discover another tent already set up, but no sign of its owners. With the other campers at large, Ian and Sam's discovery of a child wandering alone sets off a terrifying chain of events that will push them to their limits – and beyond.

Markimdb: 6
Genredrama, western, crime, biography
CountryAustralia, United Kingdom, France

Set against the badlands of colonial Australia where the English rule with a bloody fist and the Irish endure, Ned Kelly discovers he comes from a line of Irish rebels—an uncompromising army of cross dressing bandits immortalised for terrorising their oppressors back in Ireland. Nurtured by the notorious bushranger, Harry Power and fuelled by the unfair arrest of his mother, Kelly recruits a wild bunch of warriors to plot one of the most audacious attacks of anarchy and rebellion the country has ever seen.

Markimdb: 5.1
Genrehorror, thriller, adventure
CountryAustralia

In the harsh, yet beautiful Australian outback lives a beast, an animal of staggering size, with a ruthless, driving need for blood and destruction. It cares for none, defends its territory with brutal force, and kills with a raw, animalistic savagery unlike any have seen before.

Markimdb: 6.8
Genreaction, drama, military, history
CountryAustralia

Vietnam War, 1966. Australia and New Zealand send troops to support the United States and South Vietnamese in their fight against the communist North. Soldiers are very young men, recruits and volunteers who have never been involved in a combat. On August 18th, members of Delta Company will face the true horror of a ruthless battle among the trees of a rubber plantation called Long Tân. They are barely a hundred. The enemy is a human wave ready to destroy them.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genreaction, fantasy, drama, adventure
CountryUnited Kingdom, USA, Australia
Duration02:34

When the child Arthur’s father is murdered, Vortigern, Arthur’s uncle, seizes the crown. Robbed of his birthright and with no idea who he truly is, Arthur comes up the hard way in the back alleys of the city. But once he pulls the sword Excalibur from the stone, his life is turned upside down and he is forced to acknowledge his true legacy... whether he likes it or not.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
CountryAustralia
Duration02:33

Adapted from the bestselling novel by Madeleine St John, Ladies in Black is an alluring and tender-hearted comedy drama about the lives of a group of department store employees in 1959 Sydney.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genredrama, biography
CountryAustralia
Duration01:53

Accompanied only by her faithful dog and four camels, an Australian satisfies her craving for solitude by embarking on a solo trip across the desert from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean.

Markimdb: 7.1
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryAustralia
Duration02:23

    In 1950s Australia, beautiful, talented dressmaker Tilly returns to her tiny hometown to right wrongs from her past. As she tries to reconcile with her mother, she starts to fall in love while transforming the fashion of the town.

    Markimdb: 4.9
    Genrethriller, crime
    CountryAustralia

    Over the course of one night, Sarah meets the handsome, captivating and smooth talking Lewis, who aims to be the bait in a sick sexual trap set up by himself and his low-life, rich kid housemate Kenneth. When their ruse backfires, Lewis and Sarah are forced into an unlikely alliance with deadly consequences.

    Markimdb: 6.4
    Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama, family, biography
    CountryAustralia, USA

    Explores the early events leading up to Red Dog's discovery on the road to Dampier, and his ultimate rise from ordinary dog to Australian legend.

    Markimdb: 6.3
    Genrethriller, drama, detective
    CountryAustralia, USA
    Duration01:37

    A woman grieving over the death of her daughter loses grip of reality when she begins to think her girl may still be alive.

    Markimdb: 6.1
    Genrefantasy, melodrama, adventure, family
    CountryHungary, United Kingdom, France, Australia, USA, New Zealand
    Duration01:43

    When 13 year old Maria Merryweather's father dies, leaving her orphaned and homeless, she is forced to leave her luxurious London life to go and live with Sir Benjamin, an eccentric uncle she didn't know she had, at the mysterious Moonacre Manor.

    Markimdb: 5.1
    Genreadventure, family, cartoon
    CountryAustralia, USA

    Blinky Bill is a little koala with a big imagination. An adventurer at heart, he dreams of leaving the little town of Green Patch and following in his missing father’s footsteps. When Blinky discovers a mysterious marker that hints at his Dad’s whereabouts, he embarks on a journey that takes him beyond the boundary of Green Patch and into the wild and dangerous Outback.




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