Weekend Box Office : ‘Lawnmower Man’ Cuts the Mustard

Stephen King’s latest sci-fi movie adventure, “Lawnmower Man,” with its computer-generated images, scored well with moviegoers in its opening weekend. But it was the pair of heavy-metal dudes populating “Wayne’s World” who continued in first place for a fourth weekend at the nation’s box offices.

Meanwhile, the opening round of the boxing melodrama “Gladiator” was no knockout, according to estimates. And “Terminal Bliss,” the film boasting the movie debut of teen heartthrob Luke Perry from TV’s “Beverly Hills, 90210,” was more terminal than bliss. It ranked a lowly 17 in its first weekend.

Continuing to cook up a storm was “Fried Green Tomatoes,” which saw only an 11% drop in business--considered especially good for a movie in its 11th weekend.

The John Candy-James Belushi comedy “Once Upon a Crime” and “Blame It on the Bellboy,” a Venetian-set farce featuring Dudley Moore, did so-so business in their initial outings.

* “The Mambo Kings,” on only 31 screens, danced to the highest per-screen average of any current film, which portends brightly for the film’s expansion onto more screens this weekend. The story of two Cuban musicians who move to New York to make it in the big time is playing especially well in Latino markets.

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Wayne’s World” $8.4 1,878 4 (Paramount) $57.1 $4,458 2. “Lawnmower Man” $7.8 1,276 1 (New Line) $7.8 $6,075 3. “Fried Green Tomatoes” $3.9 1,330 11 (Universal) $52.4 $2,932 4. “Once Upon a Crime” $3.5 1,101 1 (MGM/Pathe) $3.5 $3,197 5. “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot” $3.3 1,962 3 (Universal) $17.4 $1,695 6. “Gladiator” $3.1 1,295 1 (Columbia) $3.10 $2,394 7. “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” $2.8 1,753 2 (Warner Bros.) $8.7 $1,602 8. “Medicine Man” $2.7 1,282 5 (Hollywood) $34.5 $2,108 9. “Hand That Rocks the Cradle” $2.6 1,590 9 (Hollywood) $73.3 $1,642 10. “Beauty and the Beast” $1.9 1,253 17 (Disney) $118.5 $1,519 * “The Mambo Kings” $299,418 31 2 (Warner Bros) $754,674 $9,659

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.