THREE-DAY WEEKEND BOX OFFICE : Rocky Start for ‘New Jack City’

Warner Bros.’ controversial “New Jack City” opened with ticket sales of $7 million, for the No. 2 spot and the weekend’s highest per-screen average: $8,167. Debut director Mario Van Peebles’ film, which stars Wesley Snipes as a charismatic Harlem drug lord, was linked to several incidents, including a Westwood looting rampage reportedly triggered when the Mann Westwood Fourplex Theater oversold its Friday night showing. (The movie’s Saturday and Sunday shows were canceled in Westwood.) Elsewhere, Universal’s “The Hard Way”--starring James Woods and Michael J. Fox as an unlikely crime-fighting duo--opened with $6.3 million for third place.

* “Closet Land,” the just-released two-character drama, averaged a minuscule $795 at 153 theaters.

Movie Weekend Screens/ Weeks in Total (Studio) Gross Average Release Gross 1. “Silence of the Lambs” $8.9 1,586 4 $58.1 (Orion) Million $5,607 Million 2. “New Jack City” $7 862 1 $7 (Warner Bros.) Million $8,167 Million 3. “The Hard Way” $6.3 1,622 1 $6.3 (Universal) Million $3,885 Million 4. “Sleeping With the Enemy” $6 1,522 5 $61.8 (20th Century Fox) Million $3,995 Million 5. “The Doors” $6 1,204 2 $18 (Tri-Star Pictures) Million $4,995 Million “Closet Land” $121,635 153 1 $121,635 (Universal) $795

SOURCES: Exhibitor Relations Co