‘Broken Arrow’ Hits New High Mark at Box Office

“Broken Arrow’s” opening hit a bull’s-eye at the box office, taking in $15.4 million and setting a record for a three-day weekend in February, according to preliminary figures Sunday.

Twentieth Century Fox’s action-adventure starring John Travolta as an Air Force major-turned-nuclear weapons thief basically blasted its competition off the map. The film is a re-teaming of the studio, screenwriter and producer of another runaway action hit, 1994’s “Speed,” which opened the weekend of June 10 of that year with a box-office gross of $14.4 million.

Producer Mark Gordon said “Speed,” like “Broken Arrow,” had release dates that were changed--in the latest instance partly to avoid the holiday rush--which he believes was a major indicator in their winning results. The difference is that “Speed” turned its actors, Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, into stars; “Broken Arrow”--a more expensive film--was launched by a star, Travolta.

“We never looked at this film like a second ‘Speed,’ ” Gordon said. “But who can argue with the magic of the collaboration that occurred on both these movies? I’ll take that any time.”

The film, however, did not surpass the all-time February opening of 1992’s “Wayne’s World” with $18.1 million. But that movie had the advantage of a four-day opening period. Fox said it expects “Broken Arrow’s” results to soar even higher this coming four-day weekend, including Monday’s presidential holiday.

The film’s performance was a major player in pushing the momentum of continued box-office growth this year, said John Krier, head of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. “January was a record month, and it looks like February could top it. Every single week has been ahead of last year,” he noted.

Distributors say the total box office for the weekend was about $55.65 million, up 39% from the same weekend in 1995.

“What that number tells you, and what the results of ‘Broken Arrow’ tell you, is that people will go to a movie any weekend of the year,” said Tom Sherak, Fox’s president of worldwide production. The film had originally been planned for a Christmas release, but a crowded holiday schedule and additional finishing touches on the movie prompted the studio to move the release date to February.

“This film will just grow, particularly if [Travolta] gets an Oscar nomination for his performance in [MGM’s] ‘Get Shorty’ this week,” Sherak added. “That should only help our movie.”

Although “Broken Arrow” was the clear-cut front-runner, a bit of a dispute turned up in the second spot. Paramount said its week-old comedy “Black Sheep,” starring Chris Farley and David Spade, brought in $7 million. But other distributors were putting the tally at $6.2 million and $6.4 million. Hollywood Pictures said its music teacher tear-jerker “Mr. Holland’s Opus”--a surprise hit that has been playing for four weeks--actually grabbed second place, scoring $6.8 million.

Sparring like that is typical between studios, since most of the numbers are estimates until final tallies are officially reported by exhibitors to the studios on Mondays.

Even more of a stunner was the film that dropped to fourth place, Sony/Columbia’s “The Juror” starring Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin. The film fell 47% from its second-place opening a week ago to a gross of $4.5 million. The problem, studio rivals say, is that the film’s story line is too similar to “Trial by Jury,” which opened two years ago.

“Similar movie themes might have hurt us a bit,” said Jeff Blake, head of distribution for Sony/Columbia. “But we think the film has a chance to keep going.” On the flip side, Blake said “Sense & Sensibility,” a film based on Jane Austen’s novel and now in its ninth week, was actually up 12% with $2.5 million in ticket sales this past weekend. It fell to ninth place.

Blake noted that the Golden Globe awards, plus the critics’ nominations and any Oscar nods for the film and its star and screenwriter Emma Thompson, should help the picture expand further.

“If Tuesday [Oscar nominations day] is a boon for us, we will be adding more screens,” he said. Ditto for MGM and its critically praised “Leaving Las Vegas,” which came in fifth over the weekend.

That film, a downbeat story of a suicidal alcoholic and his hooker girlfriend, has been in theaters since Oct. 27. Its star, Nicolas Cage, won a Golden Globe for best actor, and MGM is banking on several Oscar nominations to be announced Tuesday. Those anticipated nominations, the Golden Globe award and critical praise prompted the studio to add 970 screens. With the film showing on 1,310 screens nationwide, “Leaving Las Vegas” had its best results to date, $3.5 million--the cost of the movie itself. To date, it has grossed $16 million at the box office.

Sixth and seventh place proved a tie with New Line’s romantic “Bed of Roses” and Gramercy’s “Dead Man Walking”--both reporting $2.9 million.

Miramax’s “Beautiful Girls” suffered a blow on its weekend opening, landing in eighth place with only $2.75 million from 752 screens nationwide. Putting a positive spin on the disappointing results, Miramax said it expects the film to perform better and that its “goal this past weekend was just to get some word of mouth going.” It plans to add more theaters in coming weeks.

Wrapping up the top 10 films for the weekend was Hollywood Pictures’ “White Squall” with $2.4 million. Like “The Juror” it has only been in theaters a week.