No Tears at Box Office for ‘Game’ : Movies: Thriller-with-a-twist from Miramax experiences a huge jump in ticket sales as it is released to 735 screens, up from 255 the week before.

At Miramax Films they’re playing the counting game with the big weekend box-office grosses of the small, once little-known “The Crying Game.”

The off-beat movie showed a huge jump in business, thanks to a publicity boost from the six Academy Award nominations it received last week, a still relative freshness in the marketplace outside major urban areas and a sizable increase in the number of theaters where it is playing.

Several theaters reported near-sellout business for the film, which has been playing in limited release for 13 weeks. Sunday’s screenings at the Goldwyn Pavilion Cinemas on Los Angeles’ Westside were sold out by late afternoon.

A week ago, “The Crying Game” sold $1.2 million in tickets over the four-day period of the Presidents’ Weekend holiday. Then came the academy’s six Oscar nominations on Wednesday, in which the movie was cited for best picture, director Neil Jordan, actor Stephen Rea and supporting actor Jaye Davidson, among other categories.

On Monday, after the film’s distributor strategically increased the number of theaters from 255 to 735, Miramax reported the film had grossed $5.2 million. The latest figure brings the total gross to $21.4 million.

“We were thrilled with the weekend box office,” said Miramax senior vice president of marketing Gerry Rich. “The numbers show that the Oscar nominations made the movie very accessible for a mainstream audience.”

His reaction was echoed by theatrical exhibition executives. Across the board, the Oscar nominations boosted business, said Greg Rutkowski, West Coast vice president for the AMC Theatres. Academy Award nominations traditionally help films at the box office, but Rutkowski said he had not seen such an impact from Oscar nominations in years.

“There’s a real buzz about ‘The Crying Game’ and the nominations couldn’t hurt,” said Rutkowski, who also said he saw “significant” gains for other best picture nominees “Howards End,” “Unforgiven” and “Scent of a Woman.” Business was off for the best picture nominee “A Few Good Men” and multi-nominated “Aladdin,” but by smaller percentages than these current, long-running movies would have seen without the nominations. “It was clear the nominations helped in those instances,” the AMC executive said.

On Monday, Disney reported “Aladdin” had become the studio’s all-time box-office champ, surpassing its previous record holder, “Pretty Woman,” which had a gross of $178 million. The 1990 romance starred Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.

At Miramax, there had been concern last week that all the publicity about “The Crying Game” might adversely affect the film, which has been marketed as a surprise for audiences. The movie, which was made for $5.1 million, is a love story within a political thriller. It has been cited by critics for its originality and its ability to keep viewers off balance with unexpected plot twists.

But Miramax’s Rich said telephone research conducted over the weekend indicated that 75% of those aware of the movie were still unaware of the specific plot twist.

Among the other Oscar nominees at the top of the box-office charts: “Howards End,” starring Oscar nominees Emma Thompson and Vanessa Redgrave, had a substantial jump in screens from 71 to 292, and its gross improved from $132,000 to $800,000, for a total of $19.2 million; Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven” was reissued to take advantage of the Oscar publicity and added $1.6 million to its already substantial $76 million. “Aladdin” grossed $4.5 million, a drop of about 19%; “Scent of a Woman” took in $2.9 million, an increase of 3%; “A Few Good Men,” with nominee Jack Nicholson, scored $2.3 million, a drop of 19%, bringing its cumulative gross to $127 million.

But Oscar, helpful as it can be, didn’t dominate the weekend’s business.

The No. 1 film continued to be the Bill Murray comedy “Groundhog Day,” while Disney’s live-action dog and cat family movie “Homeward Bound” came in second. The Jodie Foster, Richard Gere Civil War period romance “Sommersby” was third. The cult film “Army of Darkness” opened to a surprisingly strong $4.4 million.