While the school holidays are giving ticket sales a modest uplift, the crisis for Australian cinemas shows no signs of abating, at least until Boxing Day.
The timing could not have been worse: 'Hotel Mumbai' opening in Australian cinemas the day before the horrific slaughter of innocents at two mosques in Christchurch.
While no one could accuse 'The Exorcist: Believer' of setting the box office on fire, it still mustered enough to knock 'PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie' from no. 1 last weekend.
The launches last weekend of Gregor Jordan's 'Dirt Music' and Alister Grierson's 'Bloody Hell' underlined the challenges facing independent films in a theatrical market that is severely weakened by the Victorian shutdown, limits on seating capacity and the absence of Hollywood tentpoles.
With school students on holiday around the country, it was no surprise to see 'Despicable Me 3' seize the top spot at Australian cinemas last weekend.
In a measure of just how brutal the economics of producing and releasing Hollywood tentpoles has become, pundits are already sneering at 'Justice' League because the superhero adventure failed to crack $US100 million in its opening weekend in the US and $US200 million internationally.
Studiocanal's road rage thriller 'Unhinged' was the top choice again for cinemagoers in its second weekend while R&R Films' 'Black Water: Abyss', director Andrew Traucki’s sequel to his 2007 cult-horror 'Black Water', had a limited release in Oz and the US.
The top brass at Disney/Lucasfilm are pondering why 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' didn’t fly anywhere near as high as they expected in the US and internationally, including Australia, last weekend.