Holiday Box Office Pits ‘Alien’ Against ‘Flubber’

The day after Thanksgiving, as families flocked to the nation’s movie theaters, the weekend was shaping up to be a box-office battle of the ooze.

Twentieth Century Fox’s “Alien Resurrection,” fourth in the series about a vicious alien that leaves slime in its wake, appeared to be outperforming Disney’s “Flubber,” starring Robin Williams as an absent-minded professor who invents some unusually bouncy green goo.

But Disney officials--buoyed by a stunning 78% increase in viewership from Wednesday to Thursday--were predicting that at the end of the five-day holiday weekend, their PG-rated comedy would be the big winner.

“I had always assumed that after two days, a sequel like ‘Alien’ would be way out in front. . . . Right now, we’re neck and neck,” said Phil Barlow, Buena Vista Pictures’ president of distribution. Barlow estimated that “Flubber,” which he said made $9.2 million in two days, would pull in at least $32.5 million over the five days, while “Alien” would make $24.2 million.

Tom Sherak, chairman of Fox’s domestic group, was more circumspect, noting that the day after Thanksgiving is “the big day that tells you what’s going to happen for your movie.” On Wednesday and Thursday, he said, “Alien” grossed $9.8 million, though its audience was only 3% bigger the second day. He provided no guesses at how the weekend would tally up.

“There’s no question that ‘Flubber’ is a big movie. How big? Is it ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’? I don’t know,” he said. But he conceded: “It looks like ‘Alien Resurrection’ will have a big weekend and ‘Flubber’ will have a huge weekend.”

Even if Disney’s fondest wishes come true, this holiday weekend has nothing on last year’s, when “101 Dalmatians” became the highest-grossing Thanksgiving opener ever. Making $45 million over the five-day weekend, the live-action remake of the animated classic beat out previous record holder “Back to the Future 2,” which made $43 million over the same period in 1989.

At Fox, meanwhile, the latest installment of the “Alien” series, starring Sigourney Weaver, has box-office history on its side. None of the previous three films opened on Thanksgiving weekend, so opening weekend comparisons are tricky. But the cumulative box-office figures are hefty: $78.9 million for “Alien,” $85.2 million for “Aliens” and $55.5 million for “Alien3 .”

According to John Krier, president of Exhibitor Relations Co., Paramount’s “The Rainmaker”--in its second week of distribution--was in third place Friday, grossing $3.7 million on Wednesday and Thursday, bringing its cumulative box office to $16 million.

Fox’s “Anastasia” and Universal’s “The Jackal,” both in theaters for three weeks, came in fourth and fifth, respectively, Krier said.