Palace Films was until recently the most active and sometimes very successful distribber of niche Aussie pics ("Chopper," "Ten Canoes"), but after suffering from an oversupply of underperforming fare, the shingle reined back its investment.

"We tried to reach a critical mass, but we had too many; it's so much work," Palace Films manager Benjamin Zeccola says.

"We are shifting our focus back toward international titles," he adds. "We will still support certain Australian titles, although we will be far more selective."

Roadshow Films has been the major distrib of broader Aussie fare, but the shingle has none dated, and only actioner "The Square" is confirmed for 2008.

Last year, Roadshow released "December Boys" with Daniel Radcliffe and Greg Mclean's frightener "Rogue," but neither met expectations.

Topper Joel Pearlman says the shingle isn't gun-shy. "It just depends when the scripts are ready," he says.

According to some producers, there a two reasons development as stalled -- first, the drawn-out review of film-funding prior to the introduction in mid-2007 of the new rebate; and now, the many questions about how the rebate can be best used.

Pearlman, though, has Roadshow raring to go. "Traditional funding mechanisms are still there," Pearlman says, adding that the company has a staff working on just Australian films. Roadshow has significant plans to capitalize on the new 40% rebate, Pearlman says.

On the shingle's advance slate is "Mao's Last Dancer" from Bruce Beresford, and thesp Rachel Ward's directorial debut "Beautiful Kate."

At Hopscotch, Troy Lum has been very careful about choosing Aussie films. Last year, he rolled out Russell Crowe-narrated surfing doc "Bra Boys" to terrific success.

This year, there's niche doc "Global Haywire," but otherwise "nothing's really come up that we were passionate about," Lum says.

Jane Campion's "Bright Star" will mark Hopscotch's move into exec producing, a move one film producer says has absorbed resources that could have been spread across a handful of pics.

At Dendy, co-toppers Andrew Mackie and Richard Payten were largely noncommittal to Aussie pics during 2007 while parent company Becker was up for sale. Icon acquired Dendy last month, which will result in two slates merging into one.

Mackie and Payten have a history of supporting the Aussie biz. Now at their new shingle, Transmission, backed by Par Oz, they're eager to get back into action.