Animal Kingdom is a 2010 Australian crime drama film written and directed by David Michôd in his feature directorial debut.

It stars Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Guy Pearce, James Frecheville, Luke Ford, Jacki Weaver, and Sullivan Stapleton.

The screenplay was inspired by several crimes allegedly committed by the Pettingill family of Melbourne, particularly one involving brothers Trevor Pettingill and Victor Peirce, and two other men, Anthony Leigh Farrell and Peter David McEvoy, all of whom were acquitted in 1988 of murdering two police officers in the Walsh Street police shootings.

Animal Kingdom premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 22 January 2010, where it won the World Cinema Jury Prize.

The film was theatrically released on 3 June 2010 to highly positive reviews, with Mendelsohn and Weaver earning widespread acclaim for their performances.

As Baz gets in his car to leave, police approach, falsely claim he has a gun, and shoot him dead.

Angry and distraught, Pope and Craig want revenge and ask J to steal a Commodore and take it to Darren's place.

The next day, Pope, Darren, and J are taken in for questioning, where J meets Detective Senior Sergeant Nathan Leckie, who also leads the armed-robbery squad.

Craig, who has avoided being picked up by the police, meets Pope, Darren, and Smurf at a diner, where they realise J is the weak link.

Pope gets Nicky's address from Darren and arrives in time to intercept J. J flees on foot and is taken into a safe house.

With Craig and Baz dead, Pope and Darren imprisoned, and J potentially the star witness for the prosecution, Smurf decides, "J needs to go".

The film is loosely inspired by the real life Pettingill family and by the Walsh Street police shootings that occurred in Melbourne in 1988.

[9][10] Internationally, the film has been sold to the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Canada and Eastern Europe.

The website's critical consensus states: "With confident pacing, a smart script, and a top-notch cast, Animal Kingdom represents the best the Australian film industry has to offer.

All the performances are superb, down to the small parts —like Dan Wyllie as the family's lawyer and Anna Lisa Phillips [sic] as Josh's barrister.Stratton and co-host Margaret Pomeranz both gave the film four and a half stars.

[13] Quentin Tarantino listed Animal Kingdom as his third favourite film of 2010, behind Toy Story 3 and The Social Network.

[30] The American cable network TNT developed an eponymous TV series inspired by the film, with John Wells as a producer,[31] starring Ellen Barkin, Scott Speedman, Shawn Hatosy, Ben Robson, Jake Weary, Finn Cole, Daniella Alonso, and Molly Gordon.