U.S. TOP 10

BOX-OFFICE ANALYSIS
Titanic again rose above the $25 million mark and became the biggest film in the 90’s yet, taking up the third position on the list of all-time top grossers at the American box-office. It broke Jurassic Park’s record this weekend and is now actually the biggest film at the US box-office, if one does not take into account re-releases. The way this film is sailing, it will soon break the records of ET and Star Wars, both of which have benefited from re-releases. Star Wars is the top film at the US box-office today, having made $461 million, if one includes the recent Special Edition. Titanic will probably cross that mark before the 70th annual Academy Awards, which will be held on March 23. The rise in box-office collections of Titanic could be attributed to the record 14 Oscar nominations the film has received. Interestingly the film’s highest single day collection — $13 million — was recorded on February 14, Valentine’s Day, with lovebirds flocking to witness the romance of the century.

All films that earned multiple nominations saw a boost in attendance, with LA Confidential entering the Top Ten once again, after a very long time. Films like Good Will Hunting and As Good As It Gets also saw a rise of approximately 20 per cent in collections. Valentine’s weekend also gave The Wedding Singer a great song to sing, with the film making its debut at the second position with close to $19 million. The film has Drew Barrymore’s waitress romancing Adam Sandler’s wedding singer between marriages. Michael Crichton’s Sphere, coming in at the third position with close to $15 million, again failed to do much for Warner Bros. The film, directed by Barry Levinson, was affected by negative reviews, while stars like Sharon Stone, Dustin Hoffman and Samuel L. Jackson failed to push it above The Wedding Singer on the charts.

The films that fell drastically because of the new entrants and the Oscar nominations included John Landis’ Blues Brothers 2000 starring Dan Ackroyd and John Goodman, in a sequel to the 1980 hit starring Dan Ackroyd and the late Jim Belushi. It made slightly over $3 million, falling by more than 50 per cent. The Replacement Killers also went down to the seventh position, while Great Expectations landed up at the eighth position. The only other new entrant was Polygram’s The Borrowers, a children’s comedy starring John Goodman, which earned close to $5 million, making its debut at the sixth position.

 

COLLECTION OVER WEEK ENDING FEB. 15
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.	Titanic The Wedding Singer Sphere Good Will Hunting As Good As It Gets The Borrowers Replacement Killers Great Expectations Blues Brothers 2000 L.A. Confidential	$27.5 million $19 million $15 million $8 million $6.5 million $4.5 million $4 million $3 million $3 million $2.5 million
(rounded off to the closest $500 thousand)