Weekend Box Office : No Record but Still a Good Weekend

Box office was down compared with last year’s record-breaking corresponding weekend when “Lion King,” “Forrest Gump,” “True Lies” and “The Client” chalked up nearly $75 million among them.

Still, Paramount’s positively reviewed “Clueless” opened well and Fox’s “Nine Months” held strong--edged out only by “Apollo 13,” which dominated for the fourth straight week. Newcomer “Free Willy 2” performed respectably, though a multitude of family films divided the spoils.

* “Kids,” a graphic portrayal of some druggy, sex-obsessed teens, broke house records at two Manhattan theaters. “It was a dream scenario: good exit polls, virtually no walk-outs,” says Eamonn Bowles, head of Excalibur Films, a company set up to sidestep the film’s original NC-17 rating. “Every show, except the first one of the day, was sold out.” The film opens in Los Angeles on Friday.

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Apollo 13” $12.5 2,346 4 (Universal) $111.2 $5,310 2. “Clueless” $10.6 1,653 1 (Paramount) $15.9 $6,420 3. “Nine Months” $9.8 1,750 2 (Fox) $32.5 $5,614 4. “Under Siege 2” $9.1 2,150 2 (Warner Bros.) $27.6 $4,240 5. “Species” $7.1 2,310 3 (MGM) $46.3 $3,089 6. “Free Willy 2” $7.0 2,301 1 (Warner Bros.) $9.5 $3,059 7. “Pocahontas” $5.7 2,461 6 (Walt Disney) $117.3 $2,327 8. “The Indian in the Cupboard” $5.3 1,723 2 (Paramount) $17.7 $3,047 9. “First Knight” $4.7 2,161 3 (Columbia) $29.9 $2,180 10. “Batman Forever” $3.6 1,974 6 (Warner Bros.) $171.2 $1,825 * “Kids” $85,709 2 1 (Excalibur) $85,709 $42,855

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.