`LOST IN SPACE' TORPEDOES `TITANIC'.Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer ``Lost in Space'' found a home with the nation's moviegoers, easily sinking ``Titanic'' from the top spot with an estimated $20.1 million at 3,306 theaters, studio sources said Sunday. ``Titanic,'' helped by its recent domination at the 70th Academy Awards, racked up a still-impressive $11.6 million at 3,265 theaters. Paramount's mega-hit has totaled an astounding a·stound tr.v. a·stound·ed, a·stound·ing, a·stounds To astonish and bewilder. See Synonyms at surprise. [From Middle English astoned, past participle of astonen, $530.5 million after 108 days. It was the first time in 16 weekends a movie other than ``Titanic'' had led since the debut of ``Scream 2'' on Dec. 12-14. ``Titanic's'' record of 15 straight wins was two better than ``Tootsie'' and ``Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. Cop.'' To beat ``Titanic,'' New Line launched a massive publicity campaign highlighting its extensive special effects special effects, in motion pictures, cinematographic techniques that create illusions in the audience's minds as well as the illusions created using these techniques. along with tapping into baby boomer baby boomer also ba·by-boom·er n. A member of a baby-boom generation. Noun 1. baby boomer - a member of the baby boom generation in the 1950s; "they expanded the schools for a generation of baby boomers" boomer nostalgia for the ``Lost in Space'' TV series that aired between 1965 and 1968. The film, starring William Hurt William Hurt (born March 20, 1950) is an Academy Award-winning American actor. Biography Early life Hurt was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Claire Isabel (née McGill), who worked at Time, Inc.,[1] and Alfred McCord Hurt, who worked for the U.S. , Mimi Rogers and Matt LeBlanc Matthew Steven LeBlanc (born July 25, 1967) is an Emmy and Golden Globe Award-nominated American actor, best known for his role as Joey Tribbiani in the hugely popular sitcom Friends (1994-2004) and its less successful spin-off Joey (2004-2006). , opened at the largest number of theaters ever, topping the 3,281 that were signed up last May for the debut of Universal's ``The Lost World: Jurassic Park.'' The result was the largest April opening ever, beating the $18.4 million record set by Paramount's ``Indecent Proposal'' in 1993. ``We really did exceed our expectations and theater owners are telling us that the movie played very well to all age groups with spontaneous applause at the end of shows,'' said Al Shapiro, New Line's president of distribution. ``And we believe we're well positioned to play very well during Easter vacation this week.'' As for ``Titanic,'' it lost about 30 percent of its audience from the prior weekend in its first significant drop-off since it opened. The disaster epic's performance had been seeing declines of less than 10 percent for most of its run. `` `Lost in Space' performed pretty well for a science-fiction movie that didn't have terribly good reviews and was going up against `Titanic,' '' said analyst Arthur Rockwell of Rockwell Capital Management. ` ``Titanic' is still doing terrific business.'' Rockwell predicted that ``Lost in Space'' will benefit from many moviegoers being on vacation this week, along with a relative lack of strong new competition for the next several weeks. His forecast calls for a final gross in the $80 million range. ``We're in a relatively soft period right now,'' Rockwell added, noting that ``Lost in Space'' should lead again next weekend when the major debuts will be MGM's ``Species II,'' Sony's ``My Giant'' and Paramount's ``The Odd Couple II.'' Paramount showed sneak previews sneak preview n. A single public showing of a movie before its general release. Noun 1. sneak preview - a preview to test audience reactions of the Jack Lemmon-Walter Matthau comedy at 873 theaters Saturday night and reported strong response. Despite finishing second, ``Titanic'' should generate solid business for the rest of the spring and finish its domestic run at more than $600 million. It is $70 million ahead of No. 2 domestic performer ``Star Wars'' and grosses overseas, where 20th Century Fox is handling distribution, are well past $800 million. ``Titanic'' fended off a challenge from Universal's opening of ``Mercury Rising,'' a thriller with Bruce Willis Walter Bruce Willis (born March 19, 1955) is an American actor and singer. He came to fame in the late 1980s and has since retained a career as both a Hollywood leading man and a supporting actor, in particular for his role as John McClane in the Die Hard series. as an FBI agent. Overall, the domestic box office for 1998 remains about 7 percent ahead of the total for the same period last year. Final figures for the weekend will be released today. TOP MOVIES Here are estimated grosses for the top movies at North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. theaters for Friday through Sunday: 1. ``Lost in Space,'' $20.1 million. 2. ``Titanic,'' $11.6 million. 3. ``Mercury Rising,'' $10.3 million. 4. ``Grease,'' $5.5 million. 5. ``Primary Colors those developed from the solar beam by the prism, viz., red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, which are reduced by some authors to three, - red, green, and violet-blue. These three are sometimes called fundamental colors. See under Color. See also: Color Primary ,'' $4.7 million. 6. ``Wild Things,'' $3.7 million. 7. ``The Man in the Iron Mask Man in the Iron Mask forced to perpetually wear an iron mask to conceal his indentity. [Br. Lit. and Fr. Hist.: Benét 628] See : Concealment Man in the Iron Mask ,'' $3.4 million. 8. ``Good Will Hunting,'' $3.25 million. 9. ``As Good as It Gets,'' $3.22 million. 10. ``U.S. Marshals,'' $2.5 million. CAPTION(S): box BOX: Top movies (see text) |
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