Movies Another Victim of 49ers as Box Office Receipts Slump

The Super Bowl took a serious toll on business at the nation’s movie theaters.

“The major studios avoid this as an opening date, and grosses were off among the pictures already playing,” said John Krier, president of Exhibitor Relations Inc., which collects box office results.

Between Friday and Sunday, ticket sales to the popular “Born on the Fourth of July,” starring Tom Cruise as a disillusioned Vietnam vet, dropped about 26% from the previous weekend.

Both “Tango and Cash” and “War of the Roses” lost 20% of their ticket sales from the previous weekend. And ticket sales for the Paramount thriller “Internal Affairs” fell off by about 25%.

That’s not surprising. During last year’s Super Bowl weekend, moviegoers also stayed away from theaters in droves, even avoiding big hits. According to Exhibitor Relations, tickets sales to two audience favorites in 1989--”Rain Man” and “Twins”--dropped about 30% from the previous weekend.

This year’s Super Bowl, however, didn’t seem to hurt business for “Driving Miss Daisy,” Warner’s sentimental Southern tale starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman. After expanding to another 617 theaters, the film became the biggest draw of the weekend, grossing about roughly $5.6 million, or $6,250 per screen.