‘Jacob’s Ladder’ Climbs to Top of Ticket Sales : Films: ‘Ghost’ overwhelms ‘Pretty Woman’ as top grossing picture of the year.

“Jacob’s Ladder,” a psychological thriller directed by Adrian Lyne, about a hallucinating Vietnam veteran, took the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office. Starring Tim Robbins, the Tri-Star Pictures release had ticket sales of $7.5 million, for a solid per-screen average of $7,130 on 1,052 screens.

But if “Jacob’s Ladder” took the weekend’s top rung, “Ghost” snatched the spotlight by surpassing Disney/Touchstone’s “Pretty Woman” to become the top-grossing film of the year. With ticket sales of $180.6 million, “Ghost” is No. 12 on the list of the highest-grossing films of all time in North America.

Aside from the just-out “Jacob’s Ladder” and the record-breaking “Ghost,” the moviegoing weekend was strictly ho-hum.

With ticket sales of $2.44 million on 688 screens--for an average of $3,557--Prince’s just-released rock ‘n’ roll drama, “Graffiti Bridge,” had to settle for eighth place. From Warner Bros., the film--which was not screened in advance for critics--marks the third screen outing for the colorful rocker, who scored a hit with 1984’s “Purple Rain” (grosses of $68.3 million) and bombed with 1986’s “Under the Cherry Moon” ($10 million).

Holdovers dominated the rest of the slate. Columbia Pictures’ comedy “Sibling Rivalry” was ranked No. 2 with ticket sales of $3.24 million. Third place went to ‘Ghost,” which earned $3.21 million. In fourth, with ticket sale of $3 million, was Universal Pictures’ romantic drama “White Palace.” In fifth with ticket sales of $2.58 million was 20th-Century Fox’s actioner “Marked for Death.”