No Runaway Hits in Summer Box-Office Race

In most of the pre-season handicaps of this summer’s movie box-office derby, there were seven films that figured to have a chance of breaking out as a major blockbuster. So far, six of the seven have opened, and none has become a runaway hit.

Paramount’s “Days of Thunder,” which topped many of the prognosticators’ lists, was the sixth heavyweight to be released this summer and the $21.5 million taken in during its first five days was far below expectations. The picture looks to have no chance of coming close to the $171 million earned by “Top Gun,” the previous Tom Cruise hit it closely resembles.

“Thunder’s” per-screen average over the weekend was just $6,715, about half that of Tri-Star’s “Total Recall,” the summer’s best performer. “Total Recall” had a $25.5 million three-day opening and $12,395 per-screen average.

The other early high-profile summer films: Orion Pictures’ “RoboCop 2” ($14.1 million opening; $8,001 per-screen average), Walt Disney Studio’s “Dick Tracy” ($22.5 million; $9,667 per-screen), Paramount’s “Another 48 HRS.” ($19.4 million; $8,462 per-screen), and Universal Pictures’ “Back to the Future III” ($23.7 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend holiday; $11,740 per-screen).

All five previous releases had higher per-screen averages than “Thunder,” and all of those except “Total Recall” and “Dick Tracy” saw a quick drop in business during their second and third weekends.

“RoboCop 2” had good news and bad news for slumping Orion Pictures. Its opening weekend receipts were a record for the studio, but business took a massive 50% drop over its second weekend. Ticket sales of $6.3 million dropped it from second to fourth place on the box office chart.

And though “Total Recall” is closing in on $100 million in cumulative ticket sales, and “Dick Tracy” is nearing $70 million, neither has lived up to expectations of industry analysts.

Looking ahead, Twentieth Century-Fox seems to have the best remaining shot at the stratosphere, with its costly “Die Hard 2.” The film reprises Bruce Willis’ role as an off-duty cop battling terrorists--this time in an airport--and gets a running start on the weekend with limited openings today and a wide opening Wednesday.

Also building strong early word-of-mouth is Disney’s “Arachnophobia,” a horror-comedy that will have to overcome a national phobia about spiders if it is to scale the heights. “Arachnophobia” opens July 20.

Meanwhile, Universal’s Bill Cosby comedy, “Ghost Dad,” had a very weak opening, taking in just $4.8 million for a per-screen average of $3,960, and finished sixth. Disney’s Alan Alda comedy “Betsy’s Wedding” managed just $3.2 million during its second weekend and dropped to eighth.