A New Box-Office Record, Relatively Speaking

“Independence Day” passed the $100-million mark Monday, creating a happy statistical dilemma for Tom Sherak, 20th Century Fox’s senior executive vice president.

No one would dispute that “Independence Day” broke the record, reaching nine figures in fewer than the nine days it took the 1993 dinosaur epic “Jurassic Park.” Since the movie was screened the Tuesday night before its July 3 opening, would Fox contend that the feat had been accomplished in six days or seven?

“Because we only needed an additional $4 million, I figured that the record would be broken by 6 p.m.--the time that previews began last Tuesday,” Sherak said. “In my mind, 6 p.m. Tuesday to 6 p.m. Monday is six days. Though a lot of studios complained about my calculations, each of us determines our own course. There’s no accountability, no hard and fast rules. In the end, though, you have to live with yourself.”

The case of “Independence Day,” industry observers agree, highlights the relativity--and shortcomings--of box-office record-keeping. Spurred by a numbers-obsessed press, they say, studios put the best possible spin on movie receipts. And when it comes to shattering records, films measured in 1996 dollars (today’s average ticket price is $4.35 compared to $1.55 in 1970 and 46 cents in 1950) have a distinct advantage over those of yesteryear. Some regular admissions now cost $8 in Los Angeles and $8.50 in New York City.

“E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” (1982) is the all-time domestic box-office champ with a gross of $399.8 million, with “Jurassic Park” ($356.8 million) and 1994’s “Forrest Gump” ($329.7 million) in close pursuit. The picture would be quite different, however, if tickets sold to earlier films were calculated in today’s inflation-adjusted dollars, according to the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. “Gone With the Wind” (1939) would top the list with an estimated $859 million, with “Star Wars” second at $628 million, followed by “The Ten Commandments,” a 1956 release, at $602 million.

“Technically, it’s easier to hit the $100-million mark today with more screens, higher ticket prices and different distribution patterns,” said John Krier, president of Exhibitor Relations. “Seven hundred theaters, a third of the current number, used to be considered a wide release. Still, other factors enter in. Four times as many tickets were sold during the war years of the 1940s. And theaters at that time had a lot more seats.

“No matter how you cut it, there’s always an asterisk,” he added. “Was it a holiday or non-holiday opening? Did the picture come out on a Wednesday or Friday? We’re never comparing apples and apples. . . . It drives us wild.”

Why not report admissions instead of grosses, in the same way that the record industry reports units sold?

“In certain foreign territories they do track admissions,” said Dan Marks, senior vice president of product management for Entertainment Data Inc., “but here it’s always been the almighty dollar. From a research point of view, knowing the number of bodies would be another measuring device giving us a different perspective.”

Under the current system, Entertainment Data provides studios with figures for more than 80% of the box office in the United States and Canada. Collecting the rest becomes the distributor’s domain. Actual figures are delivered on Monday--a nearly, if not totally, comprehensive count.

In close races, some studios wait until the competition weighs in. Though less common than it used to be, numbers “fudging” is a fact of box-office life, industry sources say. Last year, Disney and Warner Bros. delivered Sunday estimates off by $1 million from the actual figures for “Pocahontas” and “Batman Forever.” In 1994, Miramax Films and Warner Bros. publicly revised their estimates on “Pulp Fiction” and “The Specialist” to outdo one another.

“If your movie does big numbers, you can easily hide a million-dollar magic act,” an industry analyst said. “But if you’re only doing $3 million for the weekend, it’s a lot harder to pull off.”

Some blame the press for creating a climate in which numbers and the pecking order are the barometer of success. Grabbing the top spot becomes a marketing ploy, leading to coverage that manufactures a buzz. Press deadlines, moreover, force studios to estimate weekend tallies on Sunday, factoring in weather, sports events and a host of other variables, a day before the numbers are in.

“Everyone wants to spin it out, since such a big deal is made of who’s No. 1,” said producer Perry Katz (“Flipper”), a former Universal Pictures marketing chief. “Instead of rolling out pictures slowly, we have to release them wide. That hurts smaller films that rely on word of mouth.”

Still, sometimes the studios resist the temptation to nudge the numbers up. In deciding upfront not to include pre-opening night grosses in its tabulations, Fox passed on the chance to surpass “Batman Forever’s” $20-million one-day gross. The studio also declined to inflate its $50.2-million three-day weekend tally to beat out the $52.8 million the third Batman film took in.

Though box-office reportage is not a “precise science,” no qualifiers are called for, EDI’s Marks said. Roger Maris’ name used to carry an asterisk for baseball’s single-season home run record because he had played in more games than the legendary Babe Ruth. The asterisk was later removed, Marks pointed out, because Maris simply had hit more home runs.

“I quarrel with Sherak’s decision not to count Tuesday as an admission day,” Marks said. “But the fact that ‘Independence Day’ played in more theaters and had higher ticket prices than ‘Jurassic’ doesn’t negate the fact that it reached $100 million in record time.”

Barry London, vice chairman of Paramount Pictures, said that to focus “on all these qualifiers is missing the forest for the trees.”

Jeff Blake, president of Sony Pictures Releasing, agreed. “ ‘Independence Day’ is the home run we all dream of--a movie whose numbers transcend any of the gamesmanship we play. Rather than being so negative, we should embrace its success.

“When it comes to accounting, checks and balances keep this business as honest as any other,” he added. “Other studios call you on it if you seem to be breaking the rules. And entertainment journalism is not a ‘happy talk’ beat.”