Box Office: New releases top the chart

Two new releases topped the chart this weekend, just falling short of a combined $7m, close to half of the $14.36m earned by the top 20 movies.

Weekend box office was up 15% from the previous weekend with the top two movies both new releases distributed by Fox.

#1 Alien: Covenant $3.95m

Michael Fassbender stars in Ridley Scott's sci-fi horror film which tops the chart after opening on 310 screens with a screen average of $12,768. The movie is the sixth in the Alien franchise and is the second in the Alien prequel series.

#2 Snatched $2.89m

It's been a long break between movies for Goldie Hawn with her first role, alongside co-star Amy Schumer, since 2002. The action comedy targeted Mother's Day for release with some success. Opening on 319 screens, the film managed a screen average of $9,086.

#3 Guardians Of The Galaxy $2.72m

After two weeks at #1, the Marvel superhero movie slips to #3 on the box office chart with takings down 45% on its previous weekend. The film shed 224 screens on the weekend to 410, which delivered a screen average of $6,654. After three weekends the movie has earned a total of $26.98m which is the third-best performance this year after three weekends behind only Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Beauty And The Beast.

#4 A Dog's Purpose $1.02m

Takings dropped just 15% for the film's second weekend with 256 screens returning a screen average just over $4,000. The comedy drama guaranteed to make you cry should pass $3m this week.

#5 Get Out $965,000

The low budget horror movie dropped 49% from its opening weekend as it disappeared off 81 screens to 264. The screen average was $3,656 and it should pass $5m to-date this week.

Outside the top five: Beauty And The Beast continues to linger in the top 10, this week at #9, after eight weeks in cinemas. The movie has taken just over $47.5m in that time. It is now just $1m behind last year's biggest earner, also from Walt Disney, Finding Dory, which did $48.5m.