‘Tracy’ Stands Firm at No. 1; ‘RoboCop2’ Is 2

“Dick Tracy” stood his ground at the weekend box office--outgunning the just-out “RoboCop 2” for the No. 1 spot.

With ticket sales of an estimated $15.9 million, the Walt Disney Studio’s “Tracy” is the first film of the summer to be ranked No. 1 two weeks in a row. The pattern, to date, has been for a film to open big its first weekend out and then be edged out, in week two, by the next big movie.

Though Orion Pictures’ “RoboCop 2” failed that challenge, the metal warrior was victorious in overcoming a barrage of critical attacks to earn strong ticket sales of about $14.5 million, for second place.

Yet if both “Tracy” and “RoboCop” performed admirably, they paled alongside the performance of Warner Bros.’ “Batman,” which opened this same time last year with ticket sales of an unsurpassed $42.7 million. Walt Disney Studio’s debuting “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” didn’t do badly, either last year--earning $14.2 million opposite the Dark Knight.

In fact, the top five films released last year at this time had ticket sales of $86.1 million. (They included Columbia Pictures’ “Ghostbusters II,” with $13.8 million; Paramount Pictures’ “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” $8.1 million, and Walt Disney Studio’s “Dead Poet’s Society,” $7.3 million.)

By comparison, this weekend’s Top Five accounted for ticket sales of about $53.6 million.

With ticket sales of about $8.3 million, Tri-Star Pictures’ “Total Recall” claimed third place. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a man who goes to Mars to learn the truth about his identity, the science fiction tale debuted with the year’s biggest weekend ($25.5 million), and has continued to flex impressive muscle. This past weekend’s performance was down just 18% over the previous week.

By contrast, Paramount’s action-comedy, “Another 48 HRS.,” tumbled 29% over the previous week. Still, the reteaming of Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte managed ticket sales of $7.6 million, for fourth place.

In fifth place, with ticket sales of approximately $7.3 million, was Warner Bros.’ “Gremlins 2: The New Batch”--a disappointing ranking given the film’s generally strong reviews.