Scott Seddon from Scotty's Cinemas at Raymond Terrace and Steve Laws from the Nelson Bay Cinema Complex both named films aimed at younger audiences as their top drawcards during the holiday period.

The third installment in the Alvin franchise, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked which starred the voice of Justin Long as Alvin, topped the list at both outlets and was followed by a number of other family titles including Happy Feet 2 and Puss in Boots.

Mr Seddon said he had noticed a jump in the number of movies targeting children.

"There's a real strength in in kids and family, people demand them and complain if we don't have them," he said.

Mr Laws said too much sunny weather may have contributed to business being slower than usual.

"It's a little bit quieter to normal years which is attributed to the weather... bad weather means good business for us," he said.

While family films topped the list upcoming screenings are set to encourage a more mature audience Both men said releases such as War Horse, Iron Lady, A Few Best Men and J. Edgar would be eagerly anticpated.