DUCK STUMBLES, BUT FLY TAKES OFF AT BOX OFFICE

On the box-office front, this may be remembered as the summer where the duck didn’t fly and the fly soared.

While “Howard the Duck” fell 66% last weekend, taking in just $350,000 at 1,005 theaters, Fox’s “The Fly” took in $17 million at 1,201 theaters in its first 12 days. More important, the film fell only 32% in its second weekend, an impressive hold.

“We’re very pleased,” said Tom Sherak, 20th Century Fox president of distribution and marketing. “It shows that this picture is more than the run-of-the-mill horror stuff.”

In general, horror films fade fast at the box office. In 1985, “Friday the 13th--A New Beginning,” the fifth installment of the horror saga, slipped 50% from its first to second weekend. In 1986, after a healthy opening, “Poltergeist II: The Other Side” dropped 42% in its second weekend.

The late summer sleeper this year is Rob Reiner’s “Stand By Me.” Since its Aug. 8 debut at only 16 theaters (now increased to 797) “Stand” has taken in a healthy $5.8 million in ticket sales.

Strong word of mouth and upbeat reviews have helped the film considerably and Jim Spitz, Columbia Pictures president of domestic distribution, said he expects the movie to do at least $4 million this weekend.

“The movie has remained flat or gone up substantially since it opened,” Spitz said. “This tells us we’re attacking all segments of the movie-going audience. We couldn’t have written a better script for this one.”

Meanwhile “Top Gun,” now in its 15th week actually improved 7% last weekend taking in $3.3 million. By the end of Labor Day weekend the film should surpass the $130 million mark.