Weekend Box Office : 4 Oscars Give ‘Unforgiven’ a Boost

Flush with four Oscars, Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven” came roaring back at the box office. The film, which opened 35 weeks ago in wide release, had trickled down to playing in a few hundred theaters. But over the weekend, distributor Warner Bros. doubled the number of theaters and the result, thanks to the Oscar publicity, was three times the gross of the previous weekend. The Western’s total U.S. and Canadian gross is now $86 million.

The Burt Reynolds comedy “Cop and a Half” opened to good, but not especially rousing, business during a weekend that saw overall ticket sales drop. Business, however, is expected to expand during the spring break holiday period this week and next.

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Cop and a Half” $6 1,603 1 (Universal) $6 $3,760 2. “Adventures of Huck Finn” $5.03 1,786 1 (Walt Disney) $5 $2,818 3. “The Crush” $5.02 1,759 1 (Warner Bros.) $5.02 $2,857 4. “Ninja Turtles 3” $4.7 2,087 3 (New Line) $29 $2,246 5. “Born Yesterday” $3.6 1,301 2 (Hollywood) $10.9 $2,818 6. “Point of No Return” $3.6 1,659 3 (Warner Bros.) $21 $2,177 7. “The Crying Game” $2.9 940 19 (Miramax) $51.2 $2,957 8. “Unforgiven” $2.5 855 35 (Warner Bros.) $86 $2,969 9. “Jack the Bear” $2.2 1,065 1 (Fox) $2.2 $2,084 10. “Groundhog Day” $2 1,629 8 (Columbia) $60.4 $1,236

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.