The story follows Ellie Linton, one of seven teenagers waging a guerrilla war against an invading foreign power in their fictional hometown of Wirrawee.
The film stars Caitlin Stasey as Ellie Linton and features an ensemble cast including Rachel Hurd-Wood, Lincoln Lewis and Phoebe Tonkin.
[5][6][7] Principal photography began on 28 September 2009, and concluded on 6 November 2009; filming took place in the Hunter Region and the Blue Mountains, in New South Wales.
Lee has been wounded, and is being treated by Dr. Clements, the local dentist, who informs them that the invading forces are bringing in their equipment from ships moored in Cobbler's Bay, over the Heron Bridge.
After a brief skirmish with a pair of armed buggies, Robyn, Homer, Lee and Ellie meet back at Corrie's home.
When Ellie checks on Chris, who is meant to be standing watch, she finds him asleep while a military car narrowly passes by the house.
Ellie then finishes her video log, revealing that the group have returned to Hell for their ongoing guerrilla war.
In June 2009, Screen Australia announced that it would fund the development of the feature film to be produced based on the novel, to be written and directed by screenwriter Stuart Beattie.
The street began its transformation in September 2009, with set areas including the "Wirrawee Cinema" and the Lee family's Thai restaurant.
The site's consensus is that "While the script isn't amazing and the story's race issues linger, this adaptation of John Marsden's book is an exciting, action-heavy adventure that should please fans of the series.
[19] Marc Fennell of Triple J wrote that Tomorrow, When the War Began has "patchy acting, fantastic action and some great slivers of humour in a movie that only gives off the faintest whiff of a xenophobic nation terrified of being invaded.
"[21] A review by the Australian Special Broadcasting Service was less generous, pointing out parallels to the 1984 film Red Dawn, starring Charlie Sheen and Patrick Swayze.
[22] Despite not coming close to its A$27 million budget, the film was popular at the Australian and New Zealand box office, though internationally it was far less successful.
[24] Paramount acquired distribution rights for the UK, Russia, South Africa, Portugal and Scandinavia and said upon its acquisition that they "look forward to bringing this story to international audiences.
[citation needed] Tomorrow, When the War Began now holds the record for the biggest first week sales for an Australian independently produced and financed film after selling almost 105,000 DVD copies since its release on 30 December.
The previous record was held by George Miller's animated film Happy Feet, which sold about 95,000 copies in its first week in 2007.
[35] In September 2010, executive producer Christopher Mapp stated that there may be two sequels, based on the novels The Dead of the Night and The Third Day, The Frost.
[37] In December 2010, The Age reported that The Dead of the Night had been green-lit for production, which would commence once the script by Stuart Beattie[38] was completed,[39] with release scheduled for 2012.
"[42] In December 2011, the official Tomorrow, When the War Began Facebook page posted that Kieran Darcy-Smith is working on a script for a sequel.