Weekend Box Office : Pet Detective Is Seagal’s Deadliest Rival

And it’s “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” recapturing first place by a nose. The Jim Carrey family farce beat out another Warner Bros. release, the Steven Seagal action film “On Deadly Ground,” which had been in first a weekend earlier. Before that, “Ace” had been the highest grosser for two consecutive weekends. Of the weekend’s two new movies, “Sugar Hill” and “8 Seconds,” the first scored modestly and the latter less so.

* In its 25th anniversary limited reissue, “Midnight Cowboy,” John Schlesinger’s Oscar-winning best picture of 1969, starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, scored strongly at only two theaters in New York and Los Angeles. In its initial release, the film grossed $45 million and was the year’s third highest grossing movie.

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1.”Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” $6.5 1,963 4 (Warner Bros.) $45.8 $3,318 2.”On Deadly Ground” $6.4 2.010 2 (Warner Bros.) $21.3 $3,169 3.”Sugar Hill” $5.7 845 1 (20th Century Fox) $5.7 $6,760 4.”Blank Check” $4.1 1,727 3 (Walt Disney) $18 $2,389 5.”Blue Chips” $4 1,980 2 (Paramount) $15.4 $2.035 6.”Reality Bites” $3.6 1.075 2 (Universal) $10.6 $3,050 7.”8 Seconds” $3.4 836 1 (New Line) $3.4 $4,030 8.”Schindler’s List” $2.9 803 11 (Universal) $45.9 $3,660 9.”Mrs. Doubtfire” $2.8 1,336 14 (20th Century Fox) $197 $2,085 9.”My Fatter, the Hero” $2.7 1,335 4 (Touchstone) $19.3 $2,060 * “Midnight Cowboy” $36,846 2 1 (MGM/UA) $36,846 $18,423

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.