Boxoffice-March.1988

NATIONAL NEWS
It's Official: 1987 Boxoffice
Breaks Ail-Time Record
billion
Domestic grosses for 1987 exceeded $4.03
on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 27, breaking
the all-time annual boxoffice record set in
1984. By year's end, U.S. grosses had exceeded
a whopping $4 25 billion, a jump of
more than 11 percent over 1986's $3.78 billion
Holiday Movies Contribute
To Hollywood's Best Week
Ever
Hollywood's year-long record cash-harvest
actually continued to gain momentum as it
hurtled toward 1988; U.S. boxoffice had its
best week in history ending Dec. 31, with a
seven-day gross totalling nearly $158 million,
according to a lanuary survey in Daily Variety
It beat the old all-time weekly record of
$137.9 million (set in the same period one
year before) by over 14 percent.
The big winners in Hollywood's lucrative
holiday sweepstakes were Paramount, 20th
Century Fox, Disney and Orion, all of which
were scoring with heavy hitters at year's end.
Paramount set the pace with three solid
champions: Eddie Murphy's "Raw," which
raked in over $39.1 million by its fourth
weekend; John Hughes's Thanksgivingweekend
release "Planes, Trains and Automobiles,"
which was showing strong, steady
legs in early lanuary with a cumulative $43
million gross; and the third strongest grosser
of 1987 (with $125.9 million by Dec. 31), "Fatal
Attraction," which was still pulling a
healthy $3.4 million weekend gross in its 16th
week of release
Touchstone, meanwhile, was doing the
same kind of business with but a single picture.
The biggest single-release hit in Disney's
history, first-ranked currency magnet "Three
Men and a Baby" was the yuletide monster
that had already sucked up $94.7 million by
as it
Ian, 10, "Baby" marks, incidentally, the second
year in a row in which the top holiday
moneymaker was directed by Leonard Nimoy,
who helmed "Star Trek IV" for Paramount
in 1986
Fox, too, suffered no cash flow problems
offered up a formidable pair of aggressive
workplace-themed Christmas releases,
James L. Brooks's critically beknighted
"Broadcast News" and Oliver Stone's first
post-"Platoon" project, ~"Wall Street."
"Broadcast," still playing only about 700
theatres by New Year's Day, made more than
$22.3 million in its first 17 days of release, and
had an opening day that broke house records
on both coasts. "Wall Street," which made its
bow two weeks earlier, was enjoying solid,
steady business with $26.6 million by the
close of its fifth weekend.
Orion roared into 1988 with the quirky
black comedy "Throw Momma From The
Train." An impressive debut for first-time feature
director Danny DeVito, "Momma" led
the field the week it opened, and made over
$42.7 million in its first 31 days of release.
Other studios enjoyed much smaller pieces
of the pie. Columbia's "The Last Emperor"
was faring quite well in about 100 venues, but
the same studio's "Leonard Part VI," in wide
release, was in the process of going belly up
in a hurry, MGM/UA's "Overboard" was
showing surprising momentum with a cumulative
gross of $16.8 million by its fourth
weekend. Tri-Star's "Running Man" had
largely run out of gas by New Year's, leveling
out at $36 million after eight weeks in release,
and falling far behind Arnold Schwarzenegger's
previous actioner, "Predator," which
soaked up $57 million last summer. Universal's
Steven Spielberg-produced "Batteries
Not Included" debuted reasonably well (considering
stiff competition) with $23. 1 million in
24 days, but Warner's Spielberg-directed
"Empire of the Sun" reaped only a sluggish
$14.5 million in its first 33 days of wide
release By way of comparison, "Broadcast
News" and "Empire" were each playing
approximately the same number of theatres
over the New Year weekend, but "Broadcast"
took in nearly twice "Empire's" gross.
1987 Video Grosses
Outstrip Theatrical By
Nearly 2-1
Hollywood's record $4.2 billion in domestic
theatrical grosses were effectively dwarfed
by home video sales, which took in excess of
$7.46 billion in 1987, almost twice what new
movies made in theatres that year. The figures
indicate a whopping 30 percent increase
in total consumer expenditures on cassette
rentals and purchases, up from $5.76 billion in
1986. Cassette sales in 1987 reflected the
bulk of the increase, up 61 percent over sales
in 1986. Cassette rentals rose by a merely
healthy 16 percent over the same period.
Fued Erupts Between
Columbia and Cineplex
Odeon
Industry sources reported in December
that Canadian-based exhibitor Cineplex Odeon
cancelled 140 playdates for Columbia's
"Leonard Part VI" tjecause Columbia pulled
"The Last Emperor" from scheduled pre-
Christmas bookings at major Cineplex
theatres in the US. and Canada. Soon afterward,
Tri-Star, a then soon-to-be unit of
Columbia Pictures Entertainment, pulled all
of its product from Cineplex outlets. Industry
observers expect CPE president Victor Kaufman
and Cineplex chairman Garth Drabinsky
to cool down and work out their differences
moves that would be in
the best interests of
both companies
Columbia and Tri-Star
Combine Under New Entity
Columbia Pictures and Tri-Star were combined
Dec 18 under a new entity, Columbia
Pictures Entertainment Under the new CPE
banner, Columbia and Tri-Star will continue
to function as separate and autonomous entities,
Victor Kaufman, who remains Tri-Star's
chairman, also became the president of CPE.
The Tri-Star and Columbia television units
have been merged into a single division called
Columbia Pictures Television.
Critics Pick the Best of '87
The Oscar-influential Los Angeles Film Critics
Assn. voted John Boorman's "Hope and
Glory" the best film of 1987. Their East Coast
counterparts, the New York Film Critics Circle,
opted for James L. Brooks's "Broadcast
News" The National Society of Film Critics
chose John Huston's last film, "The Dead."
Indeed, it was difficult to sort out the very
best in what many critics have labeled as a
banner year for cinema The choices of all
three organizations reflected the diversity
and sheer quantity of first-rate films offered
moviegoers last year. What follows is a rundown
of the major winners:
Best Director:
LAFCA: John Boorman ("Hope and Glory")
NYFCC: James L. Brooks ("Broadcast News")
NSFC: John Boorman ("Hope and Glory")
Best Screenplay:
LAFCA: John Boorman ("Hope and Glory")
NYFCC: lames L Brooks ("Broadcast News")
NSFC: John Boorman ("Hope and Glory")
Best Actor:
LAFCA: (tie) Jack Nicholson ("Ironweed,"
"The Witches of Eastwick") and Steve Martin
("Roxanne")
"
NYFCC: Jack Nicholson ("Ironweed, "The
Witches of Eastwick," "Broadcast News")
NSFC: Steve Martin ("Roxanne")
Best Actress:
LAFCA: (tie) Holly Hunter ("Broadcast News")
and Sally Kirkland ("Anna").
NYFCC: Holly Hunter ("Broadcast News")
NSFC Emily Lloyd ("Wish You Were Here")
Best Supporting Actor:
LAFCA: Morgan Freeman ("Street Smart")
NYFCC: Morgan Freeman ("Street Smart")
NSFC: Morgan Freeman ("Street Smart")
Best Supporting Actress:
LAFCA: Olympia Dukakis ("Moonstruck")
NYFCC: Vanessa Redgrave ("Prick Up Your
Ears")
NSFC: Kathy Baker ("Street Smart")
Best Foreign Film:
LAFCA: "Au Revoir Les Enfants"
"
NYFCC: "My Life as a Dog
Again, critics' choices can often influence
Oscar voting. Official Academy .Award nominations
will be announced Feb. 17.
Writer's Guild Strike Looms
Industry experts say the Writer's Guild of
America and the Alliance of Motion Picture
& Television Producers are not likely to agree
on a new contract in time to replace the writers'
old contract, which expires Feb. 29. Key
issues in the dispute revolve around the producers'
proposal to scrap fixed residual rates
in favor of a sliding scale based on a percentage
of a television show's syndication licensing
fees. WGA executive director Brian Walton
told the WGA membership that the new
formula would likely eftect an average writer's
residual fee rollback in the neighborhood
of 15 percent The WGA is expected to vote
down the new proposed contract.
94 Boxoffice