WEEKEND BOX OFFICE : Baby Picture Gets the Attention

Theater audiences are going ga-ga over baby movies. Tri-Star’s romantic comedy “Look Who’s Talking,” which features the voice of Bruce Willis as a precocious embryo, set a new fall opening record with $12.1 million on 1,208 screens. The previous record belonged to Universal’s “Sea of Love,” which debuted last month for $10 million. “Look Who’s Talking”--averaging a strong $10,023 per screen--follows on the heels of Universal’s “Parenthood,” which has grossed $87.4 million since its release in August. Galaxy’s “Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers” cashed in on its Friday the 13th opening and the upcoming holiday to gross $5 million. Jeff and Beau Bridges as two piano-playing lounge lizards in Fox’s “The Fabulous Baker Boys” finished sixth in the box office, grossing $3.3 million on 858 screens--a per-screen average of $3,862. In all, an unusually high 15 films opened over the weekend.

* Avenue’s critical hit “Drugstore Cowboy,” starring Matt Dillon and Kelly Lynch as two junkies, opened in three theaters--one in Los Angeles and two in New York--for $51,068, a smash $17,022 per screen. At the Nuart in Los Angeles, the independent film broke opening day records, grossing $6,458.

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average in Release 1.”Look Who’s Talking” $12.1 1,208 1 (Tri-Star) $12.1 $10,023 2.”Halloween 5” $5.1 1,483 1 (Galaxy) $5.1 $3,435 3.”Sea of Love” $3.6 1,439 5 (Universal) $42.4 $2,510 4.”An Innocent Man” $3.6 1,560 2 (Studio) $11.5 $2,310 5.”Black Rain” $3.4 1,760 4 (Paramount) $32.4 $1,555 *”Drugstore Cowboy” $51,068 3 1 (Avenue) $99,500 $17,022

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.