Weekend Box Office : People Like Him in Ruthless Roles

The public seems to go for the extremes that Michael Douglas plays. He was a hit in “Wall Street” as a ruthless financier and a hit in “Basic Instinct” as a ruthless cop. Now his latest film, “Falling Down,” is hitting it big. And in it he plays--what else?--a ruthless Average Joe, trying to get even in the urban jungle. In its first weekend, the film topped the chart with $8.7 million. But it’s a ruthless movie business out there and this weekend “Falling Down” will face stiff competition from “Swing Kids,” “Amos & Andrew,” “Mad Dog and Glory” and several other new films.

* “El Mariachi,” the Spanish-language film made on a shoestring budget by first-time director Robert Rodriguez, scored in its limited 66-theater debut with a respectable $4,735 average per screen . . . In its 51st week, the multi-Oscar nominated “Howards End” collected $850,000 after expanding to 400 theaters from 292 . . . “The Abyss: Special Edition,” an updated version of a 1989 film, played to $21,000 in two theaters in Los Angeles and New York . . . “Like Water for Chocolate” topped $12,000 per screen at four theaters.

Weekend Box Office

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Falling Down” $8.7 1,220 1 (Warner Bros.) $8.7 $7,151 2. “Groundhog Day” $7.6 1,742 3 (Columbia) $36.4 $4,367 3. “Homeward Bound” $5.9 1,798 4 (Walt Disney) $23,6 $3,309 4. “The Crying Game” $4.9 985 14 (Miramax) $28 $4,992 5. “Sommersby” $4.1 1,762 4 (Warner Bros.) $33.5 $2,351 6. “Aladdin” $3.8 1,717 16 (Walt Disney) $184.2 $2,259 7. “Untamed Heart” $2.6 1,123 3 (MGM) $11 $2,331 8. “Scent of a Woman” $2.5 1,248 10 (Universal) $45 $1,995 9. “Army of Darkness” $2.3 1,391 2 (Universal) $7.8 $1,635 10. “A Few Good Men” $1.9 1,278 12 (Columbia) $129.4 $1,504 * “El Mariachi” $312,528 66 1 (Columbia) $312,528 $4,735

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.