The film was a surprise worldwide hit and its positive portrayal of LGBT individuals helped to introduce LGBT themes to a mainstream audience. It received predominantly positive reviews and won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design at the 67th Academy Awards. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and became a cult classic both in Australia and abroad. "Priscilla" subsequently provided the basis for a musical, "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", which opened in 2006 in Sydney before travelling to New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Broadway.