Box office: Takings tumble as holidays end

After three weeks over $20m, and then a fortnight close to $18m, weekend ticket sales dropped dramatically as school holidays came to an end and no big releases attracted crowds.

The top three movies took $6.5m combined, over half the top 20 weekend total of $11.96m. The top three included films in their third and second week of release, with just one new release which sat at #3.

#1 Lion $3.05m

The Aussie hit is heading toward the record books with another $3m over the weekend. The film has topped the chart for the past three weeks and its screen average again was the weekend's biggest with $11,328. Its total take to-date is $16.22m. With a bit of luck some Oscar love later this month should power the film into the Australian all-time top 10. To get on that list it will have to pass $21m which Red Dog, Mad Max: Fury Road and Strictly Ballroom have all managed.

#2 Split $2.31m

The psychological horror film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan has held at #2 for a second week with 291 screens showing the movie, more than any other current release. Screen average was just under $8,000.

#3 Patriots Day $1.18m

The best-performing new release opened on 242 screens at an average of $4,915.

#4 La La Land $793,000

After six weeks the movie continues to linger top five with 287 screens contributing to its screen average of $2,766, easily its lowest since release. The gross will tick over $17m this week.

#5 XXX: The Return of Xander Cage $631,000

The Paramount release shed 87 screens to 331 with a screen average of $2,586. Its total screen earn so far is $6.53m.

Outside of the top five, Oscar darling Manchester By Sea had a quiet first weekend on just 57 screens with a healthy screen average of $9,808 and a total of $559,000.

US crime adventure Gold by comparison opened on 209 screens with $1,907 adding up to a weekend of $398,000.