EARNINGS : ‘Wayne’s World’ Puts Paramount in Black

Paramount Communications Inc., boosted by the box office bonanza of “Wayne’s World,” said Wednesday that it earned $28.3 million during the fiscal quarter ending April 30.

The profit, 23 cents per share, is a significant upswing from Paramount’s performance in the year-ago quarter, when the entertainment and publishing concern lost $55 million, or 47 cents per share. Revenue in the quarter increased to $927.9 million, from $868.1 million a year earlier.

“They had ‘Wayne’s World,’ and that helped them a lot because it made a lot of money ($115 million to date) and it cost them very little” to produce the film, said Steven E. Hill, an entertainment industry analyst with Sutro & Co. in San Francisco. Paramount’s shares rose 37.5 cents to $46.625 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

The importance of “Wayne’s World” was underscored by Paramount’s statement Wednesday that entertainment-division operating income for the recent quarter totaled $91.7 million. During the corresponding second quarter, Paramount reported an operating loss from entertainment of $40.6 million.

Paramount also reported “sharply higher operating income” from its Madison Square Garden arena--home to the company’s professional basketball and hockey franchises. In television, Paramount also benefited from shows it produces and distributes, including “Entertainment Tonight.”

The company said that its home-video sales of films such as “The Naked Gun 2 1/2” were lower, compared to the corresponding quarter, when the film “Ghost” did much better.

Martin S. Davis, chairman and chief executive officer of New York-based Paramount Communications, said the company is “well on the road to a substantial year-to-year improvement in results.”

Paramount now has in release “Patriot Games,” the film starring Harrison Ford that has quickly generated box office sales of about $20 million.

The company also is promoting heavily its scheduled summer release of “Boomerang” featuring Eddie Murphy.