Weekend Box Office : Success of Warner’s ‘Outbreak’ Spreads

For the second week in a row, the virus thriller “Outbreak” captured the top spot in the weekend box-office race with $10.8 million in ticket sales. The film, which stars Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman, is the top-grossing movie from Warner Bros. to date this year, with total grosses of $28.9 million.

As the movie moved into its second week, Warner Bros. altered its ad campaign for “Outbreak” to highlight the action-adventure aspects of the movie. Initially, ads depicted a screaming monkey, but now the print ads show soldiers dressed in hazardous-material gear with Army helicopters flying overhead.

Meanwhile, Gramercy Pictures scored the No. 2 hit of the week with the sequel “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh,” which brought in $6 million.

Two other films that opened this past weekend saw lackluster results. “Bye Bye, Love” starring Mathew Modine, Randy Quaid and Paul Reiser, took in $4.5 million, while “Losing Isaiah,” a drama about a white family that adopts a black baby, grossed $2.5 million.

“Forrest Gump,” which is in re-release, has now made $314.3 million domestically, and overtook “The Lion King” for fourth place on the all-time box-office list.

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Outbreak” $10.8 2,230 2 (Warner Bros.) $28.9 $4,847 2. “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” $6 1,605 1 (Gramercy) $6 $3,767 3. “Man of the House” $5.8 2,059 3 (Disney) $25.5 $2,808 4. “Bye Bye, Love” $4.5 1,378 1 (Fox) $4.5 $3,282 5. “Losing Isaiah” $2.5 912 1 (Paramount) $2.5 $2,764 6. “The Brady Bunch Movie” $2.3 1,905 5 (Paramount) $40.8 $1,199 7. “Pulp Fiction” $2 1,135 23 (Miramax) $91.6 $1,770 8. “Just Cause” $1.7 1,601 5 (Warner Bros.) $33.4 $1,090 9. “Forrest Gump” $1.6 1,119 Re-release (Paramount) $314.3 $1,435 10. “Roommates” $1.5 1,201 3 (Disney/Hollywood) $10 $1,241

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.