Weekend Box Office : List-Toppers Are Listless

Late August is proving a graveyard for new movies in wide release, and not much better for the box-office leaders. The top three films continued soft, doing business that in better times wouldn’t register on the top five. In fewer theaters “The Doctor” continued healthy and “Dead Again” scored big on even fewer screens. New releases “Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man,” “Defenseless,” “Showdown in Little Tokyo” and “True Identity,” barely registered, while “Barton Fink” did a strong $268,561 in only 11 theaters.

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Hot Shots” $4.7 1,998 4 (Fox) $47.9 $2,341 2. “Doc Hollywood” $4.2 1,694 4 (Warner Bros.) $33 $2,494 3. “Terminator 2” $4.1 2,076 8 (TriStar) $175.6 $1,970 4. “The Doctor” $3.7 888 5 (Touchstone) $19.4 $4,127 5. “Dead Again” $3.5 450 1 (Paramount) $3.5 $7,732

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.