Lawless and Killing Them Softly open modestly at box office

Two US films by Australian directors have opened at the local box office this weekend, both taking a moderate haul with a $4,000 screen average.

Lawless, directed by John Hillcoat and written by Nick Cave did best, taking $843,377 across 211 screens for a screen average of $3,997.

The film is distributed by Roadshow with a cast that includes Australians Guy Pearce, Jason Clarke, Noah Taylor and Mia Wasikowska as well as Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Jessica Chastain. The film is about a family of bootlegging gangsters in depression-era Virginia.