WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

The strong holdovers from previous weeks dominated last weekend’s box office business. “Stakeout” topped the chart for the fifth straight week--an unofficial record for the summer. But as the football season and baseball pennant races begin on TV, the distributors are loosing the floodgates: 12 new films will debut this Friday and eight more the following week. The market will become highly diluted until the prestige films of fall hit the theaters in a few weeks.

* The rather public controversy over the final cut of this film--with Samuel Goldwyn Jr. on one side, star Mickey Rourke and director Mike Hodges on the other--apparently stirred little curiosity among moviegoers. The film, which marked a large commitment for a smaller distributor like Goldwyn, was advertised on television heavily, but largely negative reviews hurt “Prayer” with the art-house circuit Goldwyn usually aims for.

Figures courtesy of Exhibitor Relations Co.

Weekend Screens/ Weeks Movie gross/ Average in (Studio) Total release (millions) 1. Stakeout $4.2 1,364 5 (Orion) $46.1 $3,081 2. Dirty Dancing $3.5 1,009 3 (Walt Disney) $21.0 $3,510 3. No Way Out $2.6 1,118 4 (Universal) $29.6 $2,326 4. The Big Easy $2.4 745 3 (20th Century Fox) $12.1 $2,050 5. La Bamba $2.2 1,192 7 (Warner Bros.) $45.1 $1,841 * A Prayer for the Dying $1.1 407 1 (Samuel Goldwyn Co.) $1.1 $2,703