Hollywood Is Rewarded for Its Labor

The four-day holiday weekend saw “G.I. Jane,” starring Demi Moore, capture first place at the box office for the second week in a row. Despite widespread attention devoted to the death of Princess Diana of England, the box office showed a healthy gain for the Labor Day weekend--$95.6 million this year compared to $89.6 million in 1996.

Officially, the summer box office was up about 2% compared to last year, according to Exhibitor Relations, a company that tracks box office. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, total box office amounted to $2.21 billion, compared to $2.15 billion last year. Attendance at the movies this summer totaled 494.2 million people.

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Four-day gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “G.I. Jane” $10.3 1,973 2 (Disney/Touchstone) $26.3 $5,211 2. “Money Talks” $9.4 2,033 2 (New Line) $23.7 $4,647 3. “Air Force One” $8.5 2,601 6 (Sony/Columbia) $154.2 $3,276 4. “Hoodlum” $8.1 2,020 1 (United Artists) $10.2 $3,171 5. “Conspiracy Theory” $6.9 2,460 4 (Warner Bros.) $63.0 $2,786 6. “Excess Baggage” $6.3 2,211 1 (Sony/Columbia) $6.3 $2,854 7. “Mimic” $6.2 2,255 2 (Dimension) $16.9 $2,741 8. “Cop Land” $5.8 2,003 3 (Miramax) $36.0 $2,887 9. “Kull the Conqueror” $3.5 2,091 1 (Universal) $3.5 $1,650 10. “Men in Black” $3.4 1,561 9 (Sony/Columbia) $235.1 $2,149

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SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.