WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

Halloween cast its usual ghostly pallor over the national box office returns this past weekend, with business down more than 20% over the previous weekend. Traditionally, it’s a time when kids and teen-agers do other things than line up for the movies. The two horror/thriller entries in the Top 5--Universal’s “Prince of Darkness” and New Line’s “The Hidden”--did relatively lackluster business; this is usually a season when such films do well. It could also be that the fall film glut is offering too many choices to movie goers, who are responding by sticking to familiar films--such as “Fatal Attraction,” which passed the $75 million mark over the weekend. (Note: The box office figures for Tri-Star Pictures--which has “Suspect,” “The Principal” and “Like Father, Like Son” all in wide release--were released too late to include in this week’s comparisons.)

* “Hope and Glory,” one of former Columbia Chairman David Puttnam’s original projects, is doing very well in a limited release. The company’s distribution department only recently added personnel experienced in dealing with specialized films like this one.

Figures courtesy of Exhibitor Relations Co.

Weekend Screens/ Weeks Movie gross/ Average in (Studio) Total release (millions) 1. Fatal Attraction $6.4 1,347 6 (Paramount) $75.9 $4,756 2. Baby Boom $3.0 865 4 (UnitedArtists) $8.5 $3,387 3. Fatal Beauty $2.7 1,117 1 (MGM) $2.7 $2,412 4. Prince of Darkness $2.7 1,239 2 (Universal) $8.7 $2,150 5. The Hidden $2.5 1,045 1 (NewLine) $2.5 $2,385 * Hope and Glory $.125 16 2 (Columbia) $.230 $7,813