‘Tracy’ Bow Rewrites Disney Record Books : Movies: While opening grosses were impressive, they were only about half the opening figures for ‘Batman.’

While Walt Disney Studios executives were crowing about the box-office record set for the studio by Warren Beatty’s “Dick Tracy” over the weekend, other industry observers were questioning how much there is to crow about.

“Dick Tracy’s” $22.5-million opening weekend grosses were more than $8 million better than the record set last summer by “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” but it did only about half as much opening weekend business as Warner Bros.’ “Batman” last summer, and did $3 million less business in its first three days than this spring’s surprise hit, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”

“Dick Tracy” also opened to less business in the current season than both “Total Recall” ($25.5 million over three days) and “Back to the Future III” ($23.7 million over four days).

Still, in recent years, Disney has been able to reverse the usual drop-off rate for films in general release--”Who Framed Roger Rabbit” grossed more during its second weekend than its first--and with its monster promotional campaign, the studio is hoping “Dick Tracy” will follow the example.

“We’re ecstatic,” declared Disney Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, “and now, we’re charging forward, in the hopes that the momentum will keep going.”

Like “Dick Tracy,” Warner Bros.’ “Gremlins 2” opened to generally strong reviews, but the sequel to Joe Dante’s 1984 hit grossed a modest (for a sequel) $9.7 million. Both family-oriented films figure to do well next weekend when most of the country’s schools let out for the season.

The news was less heartening for Paramount, which saw the grosses on “Another 48 HRS.” drop a dramatic 45% during its second weekend. The film still managed to finish second behind “Dick Tracy” with $10.7 million.

Tri-Star Pictures’ “Total Recall” continued doing well in its third weekend, winding up third on the box-office chart with ticket sales of $10.2 million.

Rounding out the weekend’s Top Five was Universal Pictures’ “Back to the Future III,” which started out strongly over Memorial Day Weekend then dropped steadily. This weekend’s receipts totaled just $4.8 million.

In a summer of event movies, “Dick Tracy” has certainly been the most anticipated and most covered by the media, and Disney’s Katzenberg feels the event campaign has paid off: “We went into this thing kind of hell-bent to create a movie event,” he said. “But at the end of the day, when you clean all the dust away, what you have is a movie. I’m happy to say--and I don’t think there’s any dispute--that we have the best-reviewed movie of the year, so far.”

Based on Chester Gould’s legendary comic strip, the PG-rated “Tracy” opened on 2,332 screens, co-billed with the new Roger Rabbit cartoon, “Rollercoaster Rabbit.” On Friday, it faces new competition from Orion Pictures’ “RoboCop 2.” A week later, Paramount Pictures’ racing drama, “Days of Thunder” with box-office heavyweight Tom Cruise is scheduled to roar into view.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE

Movie Weekend Screens/ Weeks in Total (Studio) Gross Average Release Gross 1.”Dick Tracy” $22.5 2,332 1 $22.5 (Buena Vista) Million $9,667 Million 2. “Another 48 HRS.” $10.7 2,301 2 $37.6 (Paramount) Million $4,661 Million 3.”Total Recall” $10.2 2,095 3 $67.6 (Tri-Star) Million $4,880 Million 4.”Gremlins 2” $9.7 2,075 1 $9.7 (Warner Bros.) Million $4,676 Million 5.”Back to the Future III” $4.8 2,070 4 $57.5 (Universal) Million $2,345 Million

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.