Boxoffice-March.1988

THE NUMBERS PAGE
were
"
"Ernest
and
The 50 Top Grossing U.S. Films of 1987
(All figures represent millions of dollars.)
1 . (1 53.6) Beverly Hills Cop II (Paramount)
2. (137.1) Platoon* (Orion)
3. (125.9) Fatal Attraction (Paramount)
4. (76.2) The Untouchables (Paramount)
5. (70.8) Three Men and a Baby (Buena Vista)
6. (67.0) The Secret of My Success (Universal)
7. (65.4) Stakeout (Buena Vista)
8. (65.1) Lethal Weapon (Warner Bros.)
9. (63.7) The Witches of Eastwick (Warner Bros.)
10. (59.7) Crocodile Dundee* (Paramount)
11. (57.2) Dragnet (Universal)
12. (57.0) Predator (20th Century Fox)
13. (54.2) La Bamba (Columbia)
14. (53.5) Dirty Dancing (Vestron)
15. (53.4) Robocop (Orion)
16. (52.9) Outrageous Fortune (Buena Vista)
17. (51.1) The Living Daylights (MGM/UA)
18. (46.6) Full Metal Jacket (Warner Bros.)
19. (46.0) Snow White (Buena Vista)
20. (44.0) Nightmare on Elm Street 3 (New Line)
21. (41.6) Star Trek IV* (Paramount)
22. (41.3) The Golden Child* (Paramount)
23. (40.0) Roxanne (Columbia)
24. (39.3) Blind Date (Tri-Star)
25. (38.0) Mannequin (20th Century Fox)
26.
27.
28. (35.1
29.
30.
31.
32.
33. (32.1
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
(36.7
(35.6
(35.0
(34.9
(34.3
(34.2
34. (31.5
35. (30.7
36. (28.0
37. (27.0
(27.0
(26.9
(26.9
(26.4
(26.3
(25.8
(25.5
(25.3
(23.4
(23.3
(22.7
(22.7
(22.0
Spaceballs (MGM/UA)
Summer School (Paramount)
No Way Out (Orion)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (Paramount)
The Running Man (Tri-Star)
Like Father, Like Son (Tri-Star)
Adventures in Babysitting (Buena Vista)
The Lost Boys (Warner Bros.)
Can't Buy Me Love (Buena Vista)
Throw Momma From The Train (Orion)
Police Academy 4 (Warner Bros.)
Hoosiers* (Orion)
Harry and the Hendersons (Universal)
Eddie Murphy Raw (Paramount)
The Princess Bride (20th Century Fox)
Little Shop of Horrors* (Warner Bros.)
Revenge of the Nerds II (20th Century Fox)
Innerspace (Warner Bros.)
Cinderella (Buena Vista)
Tin Men (Buena Vista)
Baby Boom (MGM/UA)
Ernest Goes to Camp (Buena Vista)
Nuts (Warner Bros.)
Black Widow (20th Century Fox)
Benji the Hunted (Buena Vista)
•film released in
1986; figures approximate earnings after Dec. 29, 1986 only.
Winners and Losers
«^_?».
1. Paramount (with a 19 7% market
share) roared so loudly out of 1986 on the
momentum of the two monster hits "Crocodile
Dundee" and "Star Trek IV," that nobody really
noticed how badly early releases like "Critical
Condition" and "Hot Pursuit
'
doing
But the studio took care to fuel each subsequent
season with at least one colossal moneymaker
Early summer brought two of the year's
biggest smashes in "Beverly Hills Cop 11" and
"The Untouchables," late summer a smaller
surprise hit in "Summer School," fall the biggrossing.
remarkably durable "Fatal Attraction,"
and winter the hard-charging duo of
"Planes, Trains and Automobiles," and "Eddie
Murphy Raw " Nearly forgotten among all the
success were "Back to the Beach," "Campus
"
Man," and "Hamburger Hill
2. Buena Vista (i4o%)heida
measly 3 5 percent market share as Touchstone
Films entered its second year in 1985
Two short years later, after a concerted effort
to increase studio output, Touchstone released
a remarkable slate of high-yield moneymakers,
virtually all of which made money "Hello
Again" proved a disappointment, but "Tin
Men," "Adventures In Babysitting," "Can't
Buy Me Love,
Goes To Camp," and
"Benji the Hunted." were all surprise hits, and
"Outrageous Fortune," "Stakeout" and Disney's
re-release of "Snow White" all grabbed
spots in the years top twenty The best was
saved for last, however, as Christmas's "Three
Men and a Baby" went on to become the most
successful single-release film in the studios
history.
3. Warner Bros. (12 5%) started
out very strong, then met more and more difficulty
as the year wore on "Lethal Weapon."
was the big picture of the spring season, and
summer delivered three more strong hits in
"The Witches of Eastwick," "Full Metal Jacket"
and "The Lost Boys " But big-budget "Innerspace"
was the years surprise boxoffice
disappointment, and Warner's "Police Academy"
cycle began running out of steam with its
fourth installment. The studio's two big holiday
releases, "Nuts" and
"Empire of the Sun" lagged
far behind their high-powered holiday
competition Ultimately, Warner's wound up
diluting Its early success with a long list of
flops: "Burglar,
"
"Disorderlies," "Over the
Top," "Superman IV." "Who's That Girl,""
"Rat Boy,
"
"Surrender"
SW-44
Boxoffice