‘Contact’ Hears From Big Audience; ‘MiB’ Rolls On

Never let it be said that the public is tiring of sci-fi. Robert Zemeckis’ “Contact” opened beyond expectations for second place, and the alien invaders spoof “Men in Black” obliterated the weekend box office for a second week in a row.

Sony/Columbia Pictures’ “Men in Black” grossed an estimated $30.5 million for the weekend, bringing its cumulative box office to $140 million in just 12 days.

But it is Warner Bros.’ “Contact,” director Zemeckis’ follow-up to his 1994 Oscar winner “Forrest Gump,” that proved the weekend surprise, with an estimated gross of $20.5 million.

Given the competition of “Men in Black,” Warners had expected about a $15-million opening for its film, which stars Jodie Foster and is based on a novel by the late Carl Sagan. The studio bucked the current trend of saturating the market with a 3,000-plus-theater opening, opting instead for 1,923 theaters nationwide. But with the film’s performance in its first three days of release, Warners plans to widen the release significantly.

“This was a low-profile movie compared to the summer event pictures like ‘Lost World,’ ‘Men in Black,’ ‘Con Air,’ ‘Batman,’ ‘Hercules’ and [the upcoming] ‘Air Force One’ and ‘Conspiracy Theory,’ ” said Barry Reardon, head of Warner Bros. distribution.

“Everyone expected those other films to be a big hit, $100-million grossers. But this film is one you hope will build on reviews and word of mouth. It has a premier filmmaker in Zemeckis and one of America’s top actresses, but even with that, these results were unanticipated--a wonderful surprise. Every summer one movie emerges as a sleeper hit, and this summer it just may be ‘Contact.’ ”

“Men in Black’s” continued strength may have contributed to the disappointing performance of “A Simple Wish,” a Universal family film that opened to a gross of $2.6 million for ninth place in the weekend race.

Said Nikki Rocco, head of Universal distribution: “You know there’s a whole movement afoot in the country geared toward monitoring what audiences go to see, at certain levels for different ages. And it’s not just for movies, since the television industry has been handed their own ratings system now.

“People are out there complaining that studios aren’t doing the right thing, that they want pictures with less sex and violence,” she said. “ ‘A Simple Wish’ is a sweet, simple morale film that audiences didn’t embrace, and that’s disappointing. But it’s disappointing for everybody in the business trying to offer what the public supposedly wants.”

“A Simple Wish” follows two other family films that have done lackluster business this summer: Warner Bros.’ “Wild America,” which finished 11th in its second weekend of release, grossing $1 million for a cumulative $5.4 million; and Sony/Columbia’s “Buddy,” which opened June 6 and grossed $9.9 million through July 6.

“You’ve had three very beautiful family movies open this summer with the same results--all, by the way, made by the same studios who offered some of the summer’s biggest action films,” Rocco said. “So my question is: What are you parents taking your 5- to 10-year-olds to see?”

Warner Bros.’ Reardon agreed: “We’ve always been told there’s such a demand for family movies out there. We find it very ironic that families do not show up for ‘Wild America,’ ‘Buddy’ and ‘A Simple Wish.’ ”

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With the exception of Disney animated films, studio and exhibitor sources are saying, the G rating is becoming almost a kiss of death at the box office.

“Kids are so used to excitement and explosion,” said John Krier, head of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. “Some of the G-rated films just don’t have enough of it for them. The younger audience today is more sophisticated. But in a way, if you think about it, kids have always played cops and robbers, and that is what they are going to see. It’s just that the robbers today are aliens and the cops are special [alien-killing] agents with very big guns.”

Rounding out the weekend’s Top 10:

Paramount’s “Face/Off” came in third with about $12.3 million, pushing its gross to $71.9 million in three weeks.

Columbia/TriStar’s “My Best Friend’s Wedding” was in fourth with $8.4 million and has grossed about $83.6 million in four weeks.

Disney’s animated “Hercules” came in fifth with about $8.2 million, for a gross of $66.3 million in five weeks.

20th Century Fox’s “Out to Sea” brought in about $4.1 million for sixth place. In two weeks it has grossed about $14.4 million.

Warner Bros.’ “Batman & Robin” was in seventh with $3.8 million, for a total of $98.5 million in four weeks.

Disney/Touchstone’s “Con Air” was in eighth, just ahead of “A Simple Wish,” with $2.8 million, grossing about $89.8 million in six weeks.

And the film that ate the summer of ‘97, Universal’s “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” was in 10th, with an estimated $1.3 million an eight-week run of $220.9 million.

All weekend figures are estimates; final totals will be released today.