`BOOGIE NIGHTS' SCORES WITH MOVIEGOERS.

Maybe it's a '70s nostalgia craze. Or maybe it's a chance to see something resembling a porn movie without worrying about who you bump into when coming out of the theater.

With those explanations, or perhaps the more mundane claims of solid reviews and a good marketing strategy, New Line's ``Boogie Nights'' delivered huge audiences in its opening weekend on a scant 30 screens in 13 cities.

New Line said the movie grossed $869,146 from Friday through Sunday, which translates to a whopping per-screen average of $28,972 - possibly more than the average movie budget of the '70s pornography industry it depicts.

New Line is continuing its ``platform'' release through next weekend, and will launch ``Boogie Nights'' nationwide on Oct. 31.

Meanwhile, Fox Searchlight was celebrating a success story of its own Monday with ``The Ice Storm,'' a critically acclaimed family drama set in the same decade and dealing with everything from war and Watergate to wife-swapping and teen-age hormones.

The drama by director Ang Lee expanded its initial release of three screens to 22 on Friday, taking in $323,502 in 10 markets. Its per-screen average of $14,705 far outshone a typical nonaction movie's take of $5,000 or so per theater.

New Line spokesman David Dinerstein said the time period might explain the success of the two very different movies.

``It was a time that people really didn't want to think about for a while,'' he said. ``And now there are two films about it, and they're both doing very well.''

?13- Valerie Kuklenski

Berry may sub for Braxton in Lymon biopic: Halle Berry is in negotiations to replace singer Toni Braxton in Warner Bros.' romantic drama ``Why Do Fools Fall in Love?'' Braxton dropped out of the picture because of a scheduling conflict between the film and her music commitments, sources said. If her deal closes, Berry would play one of three very different women who were married to the late singer-songwriter Frankie Lymon. The trio comes together to battle over who has royalty rights to Lymon's songs and in retrospective form look back on the life of the charismatic music man who battled drug addiction.

?13 - Daily News Wire Services

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