Crocodile Dundee Turns 40, and It’s Screening in 35mm at Lincoln Center

Every Australian in America has had this conversation. You mention where you’re from, and within about ninety seconds someone does the knife line. Or asks about shrimp on the barbie. Or wants to know if you’ve wrestled a crocodile. There’s a reason for that, and it’s turning 40.

Crocodile Dundee is getting a 40th anniversary screening at Film at Lincoln Center on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, in 35mm. Not a digital file. An actual film print, the way it was seen in 1986.

What’s on the night

It’s more than just the movie. The evening runs about three and a half hours and comes in three parts.

First, a presentation of classic 1980s Paul Hogan tourism campaigns, drawn from the National Film and Sound Archive collection. These are the ads that sold Australia to America, and they’re the reason for the shrimp thing.

Worth saying clearly, since it comes up constantly: no Australian has ever said “shrimp on the barbie.” We say prawns. Hogan said shrimp because the line was written for Americans. It worked so well that it followed the rest of us around for four decades.

Second, a panel on the film’s cultural impact and how it shaped the relationship between Australia and the United States. Which is to say, a proper look at how one film set the terms for how Americans see us.

Then the main event: Crocodile Dundee itself, in 35mm, on a Lincoln Center screen.

Who’s behind it

The screening is presented by the Australian International Screen Forum and the American Australian Association. It’s in partnership with Tourism Australia, and in association with the National Film and Sound Archive.

The NFSA is Australia’s national collection for film and sound. So the ads you’ll see are coming out of the archive rather than off YouTube.

Why it’s worth going

There’s the obvious pleasure of watching a very funny film with a room full of people who’ll laugh in all the right places.

But the more interesting part is what sits underneath it. Crocodile Dundee was a phenomenon on both sides of the Pacific. It shaped an entire country’s image abroad, for better and worse. Every one of us who moved here since has been living with the consequences at cocktail parties.

Seeing it at 40, with the ads that came before it and a panel unpacking what it did, is a good way to spend a Tuesday evening.

Bring an American. Let them see where the accent impression came from.

Getting tickets

Tickets are available through Eventbrite. Refunds are available up to seven days before the event.

The Francesca Beale Theater sits inside Film at Lincoln Center on West 65th Street, an easy walk from the 66th Street subway.

It’s a one-night-only screening of a 35mm print. This isn’t the sort of thing that gets extended if it sells out. If you want to go, book it now.