‘ID4’ Speeding Toward Record

The shadow of “Independence Day” continued to spread over Hollywood Sunday, boosting the movie industry toward a record year but also helping to push some other blockbuster films into a tailspin.

Holiday weekend industry estimates Sunday showed that the sci-fi thriller had collected $94.6 million at the box office in the 5 1/2 days since it opened and was likely to pass the $100-million in record time today. “Jurassic Park” set the record in 1993, hitting the mark in nine days.

At the same time, Warner’s “Eraser” dropped about 50% and Disney’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame” slid about 34% from the previous weekend as they vied for many of the same male action and preteen fantasy fans who instead flocked to “Independence Day.”

“ID4”--as “Independence Day” is known--was poised to become the fifth film this year to hit the coveted $100-million mark. The others are “The Rock,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Twister” and “The Birdcage.”

But there has been so much interest in the 20th Century Fox alien-invasion epic that it went almost unnoticed Tuesday when “The Rock” hit $100 million on its 26th day of release.

Another effect of “ID4” was to help boost the five-day Fourth of July holiday total to $189.2 million, up 22% from a year ago, according to John Krier, who heads the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Inc.

“This movie is good for the business no doubt,” said Fox competitor Nikki Rocco, head of Universal’s distribution. “People are stimulated. People are enjoying this film and it puts them in a moviegoing mode. . . . this will be a record-breaking summer and a record-breaking year for our business.”

One film that benefited from the moviegoing fervor was Eddie Murphy’s “The Nutty Professor,” which brought Universal second place with an estimated $26.5 million over the long weekend, slightly higher than its $25.4-million opening during the previous non-holiday three-day weekend. That film has grossed about $60.5 million in 10 days.

Despite some mixed reviews, another star-driven picture that opened well over that past five days was John Travolta’s “Phenomenon,” with an estimated $25 million and a third-place finish for Disney. Disney’s “Hunchback” came in fourth with an estimated $14 million for five days, bringing its cumulative box office to about $65.3 million in three weeks, and Disney’s “The Rock” was in sixth with an estimated five-day take of $8.6 million and a cumulative total of $109.8 million.

Even the box-office muscle of Arnold Schwarzenegger couldn’t lift Warner’s “Eraser” higher than fifth place against “ID4” in the summer’s biggest moviegoing week. Its five-day take was $13.4 million for an estimated cumulative total of $70.9 million.

But the studio hit the hardest was Sony with its summer releases “Striptease” and “The Cable Guy” giving mediocre performances. Demi Moore’s “Striptease” was seventh with $7.5 million for the five days, luring only a total of $22.7 million in its two-week run. Jim Carrey’s “Cable Guy” was 10th with $2.7 million in five days and a cumulative $54.5 million in its four weeks of release.

Warner/Universal’s “Twister,” a phenomenon itself, remained in eighth with about $4.4 million over the holiday and a cumulative $225 million in its nine-week run.

Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible” held ninth for Paramount with $3.6 million and a cumulative $169 million in seven weeks of release.

Final official totals will be released today.