Paramount Scales Box-Office Heights

Paramount virtually took over the box office last weekend as ticket sales for “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” broke the $100-million mark, and “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” opened to sales of nearly $17.4 million.

While “Star Trek V” took in more dollars than any of its predecessors, roughly 300,000 fewer moviegoers bought tickets for this installment than for “Star Trek IV” in 1986. Ticket price inflation of more than 11% since 1986 accounts for “Star Trek V’s” higher grosses.

“Star Trek V,” which was directed by William Shatner--known to millions of moviegoers and TV watchers as “Captain Kirk”-- faced stiff competition from Paramount’s own “Indiana Jones.” During just 19 days in the nation’s theaters, “Indiana Jones,” starring Harrison Ford, has grossed $102.8 million.

Theater owners predict that “Indiana Jones” is the first of what could be as many as half a dozen blockbuster films to break the $100 million mark this summer. Last summer, only four films reached that level of ticket sales. That summer’s top-grossing film, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” grossed $125 million for the season.

Below the cannon fire of these blockbuster wars, however, a handful of films aimed at older audiences could also enjoy healthy business this summer. One of those movies is Disney’s “Dead Poets Society,” a Peter Weir-directed drama about boys at a regimented prep school and the eccentric poetry teacher (Robin Williams) who enters their lives.

“Dead Poets Society” attracted ticket sales of $7.5 million over the weekend, even though it played in only 687 theaters. “As far as counter-programming goes, Disney did a super job,” said James Tharp, senior vice president of the 1,300 theater General Cinema chain.

While Tharp said he had expected the film to do well in a few select markets, such as New York and Los Angeles, he was “pleasantly surprised” to find that it is drawing a much broader audience.

Tharp predicted another sleeper will hit the screens in August: Fox’s “Weekend at Bernie’s.”

Also last weekend, Cinecom’s satiric comedy “Scenes From the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills” enjoyed a healthy $15,719 per screen at eight theaters in major cities. This weekend, Columbia’s “Ghostbusters II” opens, followed the next week by Warners’ “Batman,” both of which theater owners expect to become big hits (the first “Ghostbusters” grossed $181.7 million during the summer of 1984). In July, Warners also releases “Lethal Weapon 2.”

The opening for Fox’s “Abyss” has been moved back to August, but theater owners are expecting big business on that film as well.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average in Release 1.”Star Trek V” $17.4 2,202 1 (Paramount) $17.4 $7,890 2.”Indiana Jones” $16.0 2,327 3 (Paramount) $102.8 $6,894 3.”Dead Poets Society” $7.5 687 2 (Disney/Touchstone) $8.1 $10,976 4.”See No Evil” $3.4 1,682 5 (Tri-Star) $33.9 $2,011 5.”Field of Dreams” $3.1 1,100 8 (Universal) $40.2 $2,825

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.