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‘The Personal History of David Copperfield.’

The floodgates opened last weekend with more than a dozen new releases led by The Personal History of David Copperfield, plus several re-issues as more cinemas turned the lights back on.

However the grosses per title reflect the “new normal,” with limited seating capacity and reduced sessions.

The safe distancing rules mean there is a cap of 20 people per session in Victoria, between 20 per cent and 45 per cent in New South Wales and 50 per cent in South Australia.

The top 20 titles racked up nearly $2.5 million, up 251 per cent on the previous frame, according to Numero.

Released by Roadshow, Armando Ianucci’s The Personal History of David Copperfield, a re-imagination of the Charles Dickens novel starring Dev Patel, Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi and Ben Whishaw, rang up $330,000 on 203 screens and $376,000 including previews.

“Cinemas in some states only just reopened and it takes time...

Colin Firth in ‘The Secret Garden.’

On the reasonable assumption that cinemas are trading in July, albeit with staggered seating, audiences can look forward to a raft of Hollywood films and, perhaps, several new Australian releases.

Distributors have started scheduling titles in an orderly fashion, avoiding a logjam of product, from early July until the end of the year and beyond.

Exhibitors expect that if the 4 square metre distancing rule applies, that will limit the average capacity to around 33 per cent, which would be viable for cinemas and distributors.

Executives on both sides of the fence are confident business will rebound quickly. “I don’t think it will take long for punters to return to cinemas; people are tired of the restrictions Covid-19 has placed on their lives and there is a desire to return to normalcy,” says Studiocanal CEO Elizabeth Trotman.

“Films are still best enjoyed on a big...