Weekend Box Office : ‘Hook’ in Full Sail, ‘Beast’ Roars

The busy post-Christmas moviegoing rush produced a box-office gold mine of an estimated $93 million--rivaling the best on record. If the torrid pace of Friday, Saturday and Sunday’s ticket sales continues through New Year’s Day, Daily Variety film industry analyst Art Murphy predicted that this week’s take might also surpass the film industry’s best week ever.

The record weekend gross is $93 million set on June 23-25, 1989, and the best week is $209.4 million, set during the July 4th holiday week, June 30-July 6, 1989. Both record periods occurred during the wide release of the mega-hit “Batman.” For comparison purposes, a good, “typical” weekend will generate about $50 million in ticket sales, while a week might produce $60 million to $70 million.

For the weekend just ended, Steven Spielberg’s “Hook” held the No. 1 position for a third week. Final figures released on Monday revealed a few shifts in the rankings of the Top 10 from Sunday’s estimates. And all the films on the Top 10 list showed improved business from their preceding weekends (except “The Prince of Tides,” which was in its first week). The biggest leap in business was taken by “Beauty and the Beast,” skyrocketing 121%. The gain helped lift it to second place for the weekend. Among others: “The Addams Family” rose 75% and “My Girl” added 55%.

* Six films opened in limited release during the week. Lawrence Kasdan’s “Grand Canyon,” on two screens, scored an impressive $33,750 per-screen average. Also: “Fried Green Tomatoes” served up $105,000 on five screens, “Rush” hurried to $134,000 on eight screens, David Cronenberg’s “Naked Lunch” buttoned up $64,500 on five screens, “Inner Circle” rounded up $36,782 on three screens, and Wim Wenders’ “Until the End of the World” had a $38,500 beginning on four screens.

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Hook” $15.2 2,238 3 (TriStar) $57.3 $6,800 2. “Beauty and the Beast” $10.6 1,940 7 (Walt Disney) $63.7 $5,500 3. “Father of the Bride” $10.5 1,579 2 (Touchstone) $25 $6,654 4. “The Prince of Tides” $10 1,405 1 (Columbia) $15.4 $7,143 5. “The Last Boy Scout” $8.3 1,833 3 (Warner Bros.) $30.8 $4,528 6. “JFK” $7.4 1,164 2 (Warner Bros.) $17.6 $6,353 7. “Star Trek VI” $6.8 2,147 4 (Paramount) $50.4 $3,179 8. “The Addams Family” $6.2 2,122 6 (Paramount) $88.8 $2,922 9. “Bugsy” $5.7 1,244 3 (TriStar) $14.8 $4,613 10. “My Girl” $4.3 1,620 5 (Columbia) $41.4 $2,654 * “Grand Canyon” $67,500 2 1 (Fox) $67,500 $33,750

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.