Movie makers kick off 1994 with box office boom.

The movie business has picked up where it left off last summer. After a record-breaking summer, followed by a disappointing Christmas season, early 1994 ticket sales have rebounded and are up about 9 percent over January-February 1993 figures.

That is surprising some studio executives, exhibitors and numbers crunchers, many of whom had forecast a first-quarter decrease.

This winter's rise is startling, given the Los Angeles earthquake, horrific winter weather on the East Coast, competition from the Winter Olympic Games and the failure of the Academy Award nominations to spark ticket sales for the nominees so far. Studio executives estimate all the obstacles probably knocked at least 5 percent off the box office totals.

But optimism is running high and some executives at major studios are already predicting that 1994 could eclipse last year's $5.2 billion record box office take and establish a new record. They say a strong spring/summer film slate would propel the business to that new record.

Box office receipts over the Presidents' Day weekend (Feb. 18-21) were up between 8 and 12 percent from a year earlier, according to the leading box office chartmeisters.

Exhibitor Relations Co., a box office reporting service, reported an $89.5 million weekend, a 12 percent gain from the same period last year. Daily

Variety reported an $80 million weekend, up 8 percent. Entertainment Data Inc., another data reporting service, recorded almost an 11 percent gain.

Three films -- "On Deadly Ground," which took in $12.7 million, "Ace Ventura:Pet Detective," with $10.2 million, and "Blue Chips," with $10.1 million -- were the leaders, yet all were panned by reviewers.

"This is the first Presidents' Day weekend in the industry's history where we had three films go over $10 million," said Barry London, president of Worldwide Distribution at Paramount Pictures Corp., which marketed "Blue Chips." "The public makes up their own mind about a film and young males went to see these three films," said London. "That group is the least affected by bad reviews."

The winter surge is attributable to films that the public wants to see, many are saying. The business is being driven by a wide mix of new films, coupled with late-blooming holdovers from the Christmas season including the much-praised, "Schindler's List."

"The business has been up this winter and this has been rather surprising," said John Krier, Exhibitor Relations chief chart watcher. "We worried about the first quarter but you can lay the success to good product out there."

He added, "There is something for everyone -- action adventure, comedies, a basketball picture ('Blue Chips'), a picture for the generation Xers ('Reality Bites') and several serious films. On top of this potpourri, 'Mrs. Doubtfire' is still firing."

"Mrs. Doubtfire," the Robin Williams cross-dresser comedy, has been the biggest thing since last summer's $344 million colossus, "Jurassic Park," and was expected to go over the $200 million ticket sales mark this week. The 20th Century Fox Film Corp. release would become the 16th largest grossing film of all time. The film was launched last Thanksgiving.

Other 1993 holiday holdovers which have had surprising strength in 1994 have included "Philadelphia," "Grumpy Old Men," "Tombstone" and "Schindler's List."

Tom Sherak, executive vice president of marketing at Fox, said the Christmas season may not have been as bad as many in the industry thought, considering how well the films eventually did. Sherak said the reason films like "Ace Ventura" are doing well is because they are playing "inside-out," meaning they are catching on in the Midwest first and then spreading out and picking up audiences on the West and East Coasts.

He predicted if "Schindler's List" can sweep the major Academy Awards (best film, director, actor), it could bring an additional $10 million to $20 million to that film's post-awards domestic gross. Thus far, "Schindler" has grossed $42 million.

Best picture nominations for "The Piano," "The Fugitive," "The Remains of the Day" and "In the Name of the Father" have not had an appreciable impact on their ticket sales. But that could change on March 21 when the Oscars are handed out. Warner Bros. was the box office market-share champ in 1993 and continues to lead in 1994. The two top-grossing films during the Presidents' Day weekend, Steven Seagal's "On Deadly Ground" and "Ace Ventura," are both Warner films. Buena Vista Pictures Distribution Inc., the distribution arm for The Walt Disney Co., held the market share lead after January but Warner stormed back in February. Warner executives think they can lead the industry for an unprecedented fourth year in a row.

Barry Reardon, president of Warner Bros. Distribution Co., said, "We're not about to move from No. 1 to No. 2 and I don't see anybody kicking us out for a long time. We have six releases coming out before May and our summer lineup is packed."

Warner will release a sequel to its hit "Major League" in March and its summer lineup features westerns such as "Maverick" and "Wyatt Earp."

Disney has loaded its pipeline with new films and could market as many as 60 this year. It currently has two flicks among the top 10, "Blank Check" and "My Father, The Hero."

Richard Cook, president of Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, said he is confident his upcoming films in March, "Angie" with Geena Davis (March 4 debut), "The Ref" and a sequel to "The Mighty Ducks," could push Disney back on top.