Weekend Box Office : The Number-Crunchers Are Smiling

Box-office grosses for Friday-Sunday topped $100 million, making it the biggest non-holiday weekend in history. According to final figures released on Monday by the Hollywood studios, the total for all movies grossing more than $500,000 each was $99.2 million. Once all other movies are added in, the figure easily surpasses $100 million. In either case, the total beats the non-holiday weekend record established in June, 1989, when $96.7 million in tickets were sold.

Among the new films, “In the Line of Fire,” starring Clint Eastwood as a U.S. Secret Service agent, grossed $15.3 million--the most any Eastwood film has ever done for a first weekend. The family baseball movie “Rookie of the Year” had a solid, $9.1-million first inning.

“The Firm,” with Tom Cruise, and “Jurassic Park” continued to lead the field as they have for several weeks. “The Firm” has racked up $74 million after 12 days and Steven Spielberg’s dinosaur thriller, with $236.4 million, has become the seventh biggest grosser in history.

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average 1.”The Firm” $17.9 2,393 (Paramount) $74 $7,496 2.”Jurassic Park” $15.31 2,565 (Universal) $236.4 $5,970 3.”In the Line of Fire” $15.269 1,903 (Columbia) $15.269 $8,024 4.”Sleepless in Seattle” $10.2 1,622 (TriStar) $59 $6,262 5.”Rookie of the Year” $9.2 1,460 (Fox) $12.5 $6,348 6.”Snow White” $6 1,831 (Walt Disney) $18.6 $3,285 7.”Dennis the Menace” $5.5 2,085 (Warner Bros.) $35.5 $2,644 8.”Son-in-Law” $4.8 1,406 (Hollywood) $14.8 $3,438 9.”Weekend at Bernie’s II” $4 1,334 (TriStar) $4 $3,002 10.”What’s Love Got to Do With It” $3.3 1,038 (Touchstone) $26.9 $3,220

Weeks in Movie (Studio) Release 1.”The Firm” 2 (Paramount) 2.”Jurassic Park” 5 (Universal) 3.”In the Line of Fire” 1 (Columbia) 4.”Sleepless in Seattle” 3 (TriStar) 5.”Rookie of the Year” 1 (Fox) 6.”Snow White” 2 (Walt Disney) 7.”Dennis the Menace” 3 (Warner Bros.) 8.”Son-in-Law” 2 (Hollywood) 9.”Weekend at Bernie’s II” 1 (TriStar) 10.”What’s Love Got to Do With It” 5 (Touchstone)