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.
While the AACTA International Awards always naturally have a slight Australasian bent, this year felt particularly so, with multiple awards for Jane Campion's 'The Power of the Dog', including star Kodi Smit-McPhee, as well as Nicole Kidman and Murray Bartlett.
After just two weekends, 'Dune: Part Two' has already overtaken the lifetime gross of the first film.
As long as people get back into the habit of going to the cinema and exhibitors can put trailers in front of them, the NSW independent sector should recover "quite well", according to Independent Cinema Australia president Scott Seddon.
Leading the box office once again last weekend was Denis Villeneuve’s 'Dune', while another Timothée Chalamet-starrer, 'The French Dispatch', opened in fifth.