Australia's 'Red Dog' has B.O. bite

Josh Lucas stars in the real-life story, 'Red Dog.'In its third week at the Australian B.O., Roadshow Films' real-life story "Red Dog" has cumed $8 million locally, making it 2011's highest-grossing Australian pic."Red Dog," based on Louis De Bernieres' bestselling tome about a loyal dog searching the Australian outback for its owner, opened Aug. 4 to $1.8 million -- this year's biggest bow for a local pic in Oz -- then grew 4% in its second outing to claim $1.87 million.This past weekend in Oz, "Red Dog," with $2.3 million, beat out debuts of "Cowboys and Aliens" ($2.1 million) and "Conan the Barbarian" ($660,000), but lost to "Friends with Benefits" ($2.6 million)."Red Dog" is directed by Kriv Stenders from a script by Daniel Taplitz. Pic stars Josh Lucas ("The Lincoln Lawyer") and Rachel Taylor (TV's "Charlie's Angels").Essential Entertainment is handling international sales and domestic, along with International Creative Management. Contact Andrew Stewart at andrew.stewart@variety.com