Weekend Box Office : Hollywood’s Hot Holiday Hoedown

This was a Thanksgiving like no other for the movie industry. The holiday weekend was the top-grossing five-day period ever, according to John Krier, president of Exhibitor Relations. “I knew it was going to be good, but not quite this good,” Krier said.

The Thanksgiving weekend’s total box-office take--more than $158 million for the top 50 films--easily broke the record $134.6 million set in 1994. (The current top 10 films alone grossed $144.8 million.)

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Five-Day Gross/ Screens/ Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average 1. “Toy Story” $39.0 2,457 (Walt Disney) $39.0 $15,902 2. “GoldenEye” $26.2 2,667 (MGM) $57.2 $9,838 3. “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls” $18.7 2,705 (Warner Bros.) $86.3 $6,918 4. “Money Train” $15.5 2,522 (Sony/Columbia) $15.5 $6,154 5. “Casino” $14.5 1,616 (Universal) $14.5 $9,045 6. “The American President” $13.1 1,508 (Sony) $26.0 $8,692 7. “It Takes Two” $6.4 1,581 (Warner Bros.) $12.6 $4,074 8. “Get Shorty” $4.4 1,522 (MGM) $62.0 $2,913 9. “Nick of Time” $3.9 1,849 (Paramount) $3.9 $2,103 10. “Home for the Holidays” $2.9 1,000 (Paramount) $14.5 $2,895

Weeks in Movie (Studio) Release 1. “Toy Story” 1 (Walt Disney) 2. “GoldenEye” 2 (MGM) 3. “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls” 3 (Warner Bros.) 4. “Money Train” 1 (Sony/Columbia) 5. “Casino” 1 (Universal) 6. “The American President” 2 (Sony) 7. “It Takes Two” 2 (Warner Bros.) 8. “Get Shorty” 6 (MGM) 9. “Nick of Time” 1 (Paramount) 10. “Home for the Holidays” 4 (Paramount)

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SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.