Top 10 Net $100+ Million Over Holiday : Box office: No. 1 ‘Home Alone’ takes in $30 million. ‘Little Lady’ debuts in second place and ‘Rocky V’ takes a tumble.
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Hollywood had much to be thankful for over the Thanksgiving holiday period. Led by the startling second-week performance of 20th Century-Fox’s family comedy, “Home Alone”--which had five-day receipts of an estimated $30 million--the top 10 films delivered $100-million plus to the coffers.
But if the news was good overall, the figures--which represented ticket sales for Wednesday through Sunday--also reflected disappointing returns for certain titles.
Most notably, MGM-UA’s “Rocky V”--which opened last weekend to $14 million and second place--tumbled 44% in its second weekend. With five-day receipts of approximately $11.8 million, it ranked fifth for the holiday period.
And although Touchstone Pictures’ “Three Men and a Little Lady” debuted with earnings of about $19.2 million--for second place--some industry observers wondered if a portion of its family-oriented audience hadn’t been kidnapped by “Home Alone.”
Another just-out sequel, Fox’s “Predator II”--which this time finds the alien killer on the prowl in Los Angeles--came in third, with approximately $14.8 million.
Orion Pictures’ western epic, “Dancing With Wolves”--previously in limited release--widened to 1,048 screens for receipts of $12.6 million and fourth place. That’s an impressive figure, considering the film’s three-hour running time, which limits the number of daily screenings.
But the most impressive numbers went to “Home Alone,” which jumped approximately 27% in ticket sales in its second weekend. Its per-screen average also shot up from $14,211 in its opening weekend to approximately $17,000. After just two weeks, the $15-million comedy about an 8-year-old (played by Macaulay Culkin) who is inadvertently left on his own during the Christmas holidays, has earned more than $45 million. Its surprise performance had Fox executives crowing, and executives at competing studios acknowledging a lively marketing campaign led by a show-stopping trailer. Also applauded was Fox’s decision to open the film ahead of much of the holiday pack--especially “Three Men and a Little Lady,” which vies for some of the same audience.
As for those films which rounded out the top 10, they are, in estimated figures: “The Rescuers Down Under” (Disney), $5.2 million, sixth place; “Ghost” (Paramount Pictures), $4.5 million, seventh; “Child’s Play II” (Universal Pictures), $4.3 million, eighth; “Jacob’s Ladder” (Tri-Star Pictures), $2.8 million, ninth; “White Palace” (Universal), $1.7 million, 10th.
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