Australian cinema made a welcome return to box office top three on the weekend as Madman's Fremantle-shot 'How To Please a Woman' came in behind Marvel juggernaut 'Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness' and 'Downton Abbey: A New Era'.
Older audiences made their presence felt at the box office last weekend, with the newest instalment of historical drama 'Downton Abbey' debuting at number one ahead of 'The Lost City' and 'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore'.
With Easter just on the horizon and school holidays starting around the country, exhibitors are poised to have a busy few weeks with a variety of family friendly titles already performing well in the market.
Marvel has again weaved its magic at the box office, with 'Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness' collecting $14.5 million from its opening weekend, passing Matt Reeves' 'The Batman' to claim the second-highest result of the pandemic era behind Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Tom Cruise proved himself as big a box office draw as any comic book creation on the weekend, with 'Top Gun: Maverick' starting its engine at $13.8 million.
April has already brought renewed vitality to the box office, with new releases 'Sonic the Hedgehog 2', 'Morbius', 'The Bad Guys' and 'The Duke' each drawing good crowds last weekend.
Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum action rom-com 'The Lost City' opened at no. 1 at the box office over the Easter weekend, narrowly defeating 'Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore'.
'Top Gun: Maverick' held on to that loving feeling at the box office for a second weekend, taking in another $13 million.