SHORT TAKES : ‘Pretty Woman’ Finishes First Weekend With a Happy Ending

Despite its lack of star power, Touchstone Pictures’ “Pretty Woman” came through with a fairy tale finish in its first weekend at the box office. Ticket sales for the Pygmalionish tale in which a corporate mogul “transforms” a Hollywood hooker into a lady--leading to a Cinderella finish--were about $11.2 million.

Released at 1,325 theaters, “Pretty Woman” garnered a high per-screen average of about $8,452--marking a bright return for Richard Gere, whose career had been fading, and solidifying the star potential of Julia Roberts (an Oscar nominee for “Steel Magnolias). This after dividing the critics--many of whom took exception to the story’s romantic depiction of prostitution in the current sexual climate.

If “Pretty Woman” was the weekend’s big news, “The Hunt for Red October” also continued to be pretty impressive. In the No. 2 spot, Paramount Pictures’ Cold War thriller had ticket sales of about $9.2 million--for cumulative grosses of some $63 million.

Warner Bros.’ quirky romance, “Joe Versus the Volcano,” was third, with ticket sales of approximately $5.2 million.

Fueled by its multi-Oscar nominations and a jump from 1,353 to 1,652 screens, Warners Bros. “Driving Miss Daisy” ranked fourth, with some $3.8 million in tickets--a jump of about 33% over the previous week.

In fifth place was New Line’s hip-hop teen comedy “House Party,” with ticket sales of about $3.2 million--for grosses of about $11 million.

Among limited releases, Fox’s cross-dressing comedy, “Nuns on the Run,” about a pair of cons in drag, proved a hit with about $800,000 in ticket sales at 107 theaters, for an impressive per-screen-average of $7,476.

Heading the weekend’s casualties was Cannon Pictures’ “The Fourth War.” Ticket sales for the John Frankenheimer-directed Cold War thriller, which pits Westerner Roy Scheider against Easterner Jurgen Prochnow, were only about $800,000 at 1,005 screens--for a pitiful per-screen average of about $800.