‘Fear,’ ‘Beauty’ Show Their Muscle : Weekend Box Office

Martin Scorsese’s suspense thriller “Cape Fear” and Disney’s lavishly praised animated musical “Beauty and the Beast” opened to major box-office numbers over the weekend. “Cape” did a fearsome per-screen average of more than $11,000 in a wide release of 924 theaters. Meanwhile, “Curly Sue” and “All I Want for Christmas” showed durability, the latter off only 9% from its previous week. Among other new films, “Meeting Venus,” starring Glenn Close, did $66,000 in three theaters.

* “Beauty,” in only two theaters, scored $102,000 of its total at the El Capitan in Hollywood, where 15 of 18 weekend showings were sold out. The film opens nationwide Friday.

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Cape Fear” $10.3 924 1 (Universal) $10.5 $11,105 2. “Curly Sue” $4.3. 1,634 4 (Warner Bros.) $22.7 $2,572 3. “All I Want for Christmas” $3.3 1,507 2 (Paramount) $8.2 $2,214 4. “People Under the Stairs” $3 1,838 3 (Universal) $15.6 $1,040 5. “Little Man Tate” $2.2 1,012 6 (Orion) $17.3 $2,129 * “Beauty and the Beast” $162,000 2 1 (Disney) $178,822 $81,000

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.