GONE WITH THE WIND

Daily Variety didn’t report grosses for Columbia’s “Ishtar” last week as it entered into its fifth week of release. James Greenberg, who compiles that list, said the studio informed him it was no longer tracking the theatrical revenues. “Generally, that means a film is either not on sufficient screens to warrant close scrutiny and, on those screens, the revenues generated are pretty meager,” he explained.

We checked a list of 53 local theaters where “Ishtar” opened May 15, and counted only eight situations where the picture is still playing as a single bill. In 16 instances, the film is now playing double-billed with another film, and in the remaining 29 situations it’s gone with the wind.

New Century/Vista’s cheapie horror pic, “The Gate,” which cost about two-thirds of Warren Beatty’s salary and opened on the same day as “Ishtar,” reported a weekend gross of $392,000, bringing its cumulative box-office to $12.7 million. “Ishtar” has made about the same.