The First of ‘101’ Paydays Is a Big One

Disney’s “101 Dalmatians” broke the five-day Thanksgiving weekend record with its take of nearly $50 million, leading the overall box office to its second-biggest Thanksgiving weekend ever.

The rest of the competition also held well, capping off an exceptional November, according to John Krier, president of the box-office-tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. “After a poor September and October, things have come back to life,” he said. “People are complaining that there’s not enough time to see all the good pictures out there. In terms of box-office grosses and possibly admissions, we’re going to beat out 1995, which was also a record-setting year.”

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Five-day Gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “101 Dalmatians”* $49.1 2,794 1 (Walt Disney) $49.1 $17,573 2. “Star Trek: First Contact”* $25.1 2,812 2 (Paramount) $60.5 $8,926 3. “Space Jam” $17.4 2,650 3 (Warner Bros.) $67.4 $6,581 4. “Ransom”* $17.3 2,542 4 (Disney/Touchstone) $105.0 $6,806 5. “Jingle All the Way”* $16.8 2,409 2 (Fox) $30.3 $6,974 6. “The Mirror Has Two Faces” $8.1 2,489 3 (TriStar) $33.5 $3,249 7. “The English Patient” $5.6 693 3 (Miramax) $9.3 $9,360 8. “Set It Off”* $4.6 1,051 4 (New Line) $30.5 $4,377 9. “Romeo & Juliet”* $3.4 1,414 5 (Fox) $40.9 $2,405 10.”Sleepers” $1.4 1,075 7 (Warner Bros.) $50.9 N/A ** “The Crucible” $101,000 1 1 (Fox) $101,000 $101,000

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* Indicates estimated figures. Actual totals unavailable by press time. “Sleepers” played on 1,587 screens Wednesday and Thursday, 1,075 the rest of the weekend.

** Playing on one screen, “The Crucible”--the film version of Arthur Miller’s play about collective evil and personal conscience--took in $101,000 at Sony’s Lincoln Square Theater in Manhattan. It opens Dec. 11 in Los Angeles.

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.