‘Nutty Professor’ Gives Murphy an A for Weekend

It was billed as the comeback weekend for Eddie Murphy and Demi Moore--two stars who have had a run of box office duds. But it was Murphy who grabbed the brass ring with Imagine Entertainment’s “The Nutty Professor” collecting an estimated $25.6 million to lead the box-office race with the third biggest opener of the year.

Moore’s “Striptease” was in fourth place at the ticket windows, garnering about $12.3 million, according to industry estimates Sunday. That was slightly less than her $12.5-million salary on Castle Rock’s bump-and-grind comedy.

Despite negative reviews, curiosity in Moore’s bare-all performance apparently was a huge factor opening the film Friday night--a factor that also played in the debut of another stripper tale, MGM’s camp “Showgirls,” which ultimately proved a huge bomb. On Saturday, “Striptease” only bumped up 5% in ticket sales, which is not considered a promising gain.

While some competitors and exhibitors speculated that poor word of mouth could really punish the picture in coming weeks, Castle Rock President Martin Shafer said, “I don’t think anyone in the industry expected ‘Striptease’ to open this well. We are very happy. It remains to be seen how this film will do, but this is a solid opening.”

Shafer said “Striptease” should be judged in context with the summer’s other star-driven pictures. “This movie cost $40 million and ‘Eraser’ cost $130 million. From that standpoint this is one of the lower-budget pictures of the summer,” he said. “People attack Demi because she’s getting $12 million and taking her clothes off. But look at her male counterparts like [Arnold] Schwarzenegger who are making twice that.”

“Striptease” may have opened in fourth place, but it still stacks up as the best opener for any film Moore has carried. Her other debut weekends included “The Juror” at $8.4 million, “Scarlet Letter” at $4.1 million, and “The Butcher’s Wife” at $2.4 million--all post “Ghost,” the film that launched Moore as a leading lady. In her other films that proved box-office hits, Moore was part of an ensemble cast with major male stars. Consider these openings: “Indecent Proposal” co-starring Robert Redford, $18.3 million; “A Few Good Men” co-starring Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, $15.5 million; “Disclosure” co-starring Michael Douglas, $10 million; and “Ghost” co-starring Patrick Swayze, $12.1 million--and it became the sleeper hit of 1990.

But this weekend clearly belonged to Murphy and his wacky remake of the Jerry Lewis classic, “The Nutty Professor.” Murphy had always been one of Hollywood’s top openers, but then he suffered a spate of disappointments, among them: “Vampire in Brooklyn,” which opened at $7 million; “Beverly Hills Cop III,” $15 million and “Another 48 HRS,” $19 million--both sequels to huge hits but neither of which fared well; “Boomerang,” $13 million; “The Distinguished Gentleman,” $10 million; and “Golden Child,” $11 million.

“Eddie’s back,” said Brian Grazer, a partner in Imagine, which produced “Nutty Professor.” “I guess we were a bit surprised because a lot of people predicted this picture would only open to $10-to-$12 million. I have to say I was a bit nervous at how the public would respond to Eddie playing all of these characters.” (Murphy plays seven roles in the film.)

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The weekend served up bad news for another big film which has continued to drop since opening, Sony/Columbia’s “The Cable Guy” starring Jim Carrey. That film slid 53% to sixth place in its third week with an estimated $4.8 million at the box office. So far it has grossed about $50.4 million.

“Cable Guy” and all films currently in theaters expect to feel the heat of Twentieth Century Fox “Independence Day” opening late Tuesday. In the past few weeks, studio executives have been juggling release dates of other films to avoid the “Independence Day” competition.

“We moved ‘Multiplicity’ from July 12 to July 17, because we know ‘Independence Day’ will be like a two-week opener,” said Jeff Blake, head of Sony distribution. Paramount’s “Brady Bunch” sequel and Warner’s “A Time To Kill” were also moved to later dates. Ironically, Fox pushed up another one of its films “Courage Under Fire” to open against “Independence Day” as a counter programming move.

Several studio heads say “Independence Day” could surpass the $72-million opening for “Mission: Impossible.” That film was still in the Top 10 over the weekend, tied with “Twister” for seventh and eight place with an estimated $4.5 million at the box office.

Other big action films that have held well are: “Eraser” in second with $16.4 million (and a cumulative $53 million in its two-week run), “The Rock” in fifth with $10.3 million and a cumulative $98 million in four weeks of release, and “Dragonheart” in ninth with $1.5 million.

Disney took third and 10th place with its animated “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” grossing about $13.4 million in its second week for a cumulative $46.3 million, and “Eddie” taking in $900,000 for a five-week total of about $28.7 million.

Final, official box-office totals will be released today.