MOVIES - July 23, 1990

‘Ghost’ Fades Into First Place: After a surprisingly strong opening a week ago, Paramount Pictures’ romantic fantasy, “Ghost,” shot into the No. 1 spot in the national box office chart, easily dominating its high-profile competition with estimated second-weekend grosses of $12.5 million. More impressive is the nearly $9,000 per-screen average “Ghost” had at 1,400 theaters, more than double the per-screen receipts for runner-up “Die Hard 2.” Walt Disney Studios’ new spider thriller “Arachnophobia” took the third spot with $7.3 million (1,479 theaters); Orion Pictures’ “Navy SEALS” was fourth with opening-weekend receipts of $6.3 million (1,341 theaters), and Disney’s reissue of the animated “Jungle Book” was fifth with $5.8 million (1,923 theaters). All figures are estimates provided by industry sources.