‘Trek’ Has Hollywood Beaming : Movies: Relief about improved business is countered by concerns over a costly ‘Hook,’ which opens Wednesday.

An estimated $18-million opening during the weekend for Paramount Pictures’ “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” provided another boost for the movie industry’s holiday box-office hopes.

But as soon as the industry heaves a sigh of relief this morning about generally improved business, it will take another deep breath about the movies to come--especially Wednesday’s opening of Steven Spielberg’s costly “Hook,” from Sony Entertainment’s TriStar Pictures. Industry reaction to screenings of the highly-anticipated film has been mixed, but theater owners who have seen it seem generally optimistic.

TriStar executives believe that the movie--starring Robin Williams as grown-up Peter Pan who must face his arch nemesis Captain Hook, played by Dustin Hoffman--has the size and spectacle that will capture wide audiences. But skeptics say that, with its production costs variously placed by knowledgeable sources as between $60 million and $90 million, plus the costs of advertising and gross percentages for talent, the movie will have to earn twice the production cost to begin to break even.

An early review in Sunday’s trade industry newspaper Variety said “Hook” “feels as much like a massive amusement park ride as it does a film” and carried a prediction that, with its abundance of commercial elements, “major hit status seems guaranteed.” But reviewer Todd McCarthy also cautioned that, “the ‘E.T.’-like magic doesn’t click in,” a reference to Spielberg’s classic fantasy, “E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial,” which is the all-time box-office champion.

One movie theater executive, Greg Rutkowski, West Coast operations vice president of the American Multi Cinema chain, said “Hook” has “the look of something that will be a very big film. But how big is anyone’s guess.

“We’re getting a lot of momentum back that we lost through the fall,” Rutkowski said, noting the box-office slump that began in late summer. “I can’t tell you the number of people who have told me they haven’t seen a movie in months and then all of a sudden they’re saying, ‘I’ve seen three movies in the last three weeks.’ ”

Holiday-season movie expectations further heated up during the weekend with three studios showing “sneak” previews of upcoming films on Saturday night in an effort to stir up word of mouth.

A spokeswoman for Disney/Touchstone said that the studio’s comedy, “Father of the Bride,” starring Steve Martin in a remake of the 1950 Vincente Minnelli film, did so well that Disney scheduled another sneak showing this Saturday. The movie opens Dec. 20.

Sneaks were also held for Columbia Pictures’ “The Prince of Tides,” starring Barbra Streisand and Nick Nolte (opening Dec. 18), and for Warner Bros.’ “The Last Boy Scout,” starring Bruce Willis and Damon Wayans (opening this Friday).

If the box-office so far this holiday period has belonged largely to family oriented fare, the movies to come are aimed much more at adults and deal with serious themes.

TriStar’s other major holiday season entry, director Barry Levinson’s “Bugsy,” about mobster Bugsy Siegel, starring Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, opens in limited run Friday. Warner Bros. releases Oliver Stone’s already-controversial “J.F.K.,” starring Kevin Costner, on Dec. 20. Then during Christmas week: Pedro Almodovar’s “High Heels”; Lawrence Kasdan’s “Grand Canyon,” Akira Kurosawa’s “Rhapsody in August”; “Naked Lunch,” starring Peter Weller; “Madame Bovary,” starring Isabelle Huppert; “Rush,” with Jason Patric, and “Fried Green Tomatoes,” with Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy.

Since the weekend before Thanksgiving, which is the usual kickoff for the usually lucrative holiday moviegoing season, ticket sales have been hot for at least the movies in the Top 5 positions. But overall business has still been under the record years of 1989 and 1990.

Paramount Pictures has reigned for the last three weeks, first with its Nov. 22 debut of “The Addams Family” and now with “Star Trek VI.” On Sunday, the studio estimated that, together, the two movies’ grosses represent between 40% and 50% of all national ticket sales. And not since the summer of 1989, when Warner Bros. had the No. 1 and 2 movies (“Batman” and “Lethal Weapon 2”) has one studio held on to both positions.

According to estimates, “Star Trek VI” generated $18 million in its first three days on 1,804 screens--a record opening for the outer-space series, which is based on the television program of the 1960s.

According to Paramount, the six “Star Trek” feature films have grossed about $400 million to date in U.S. and Canadian markets. The first film was made in 1979 with such stars of the TV show as William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, and they have continued to make them. The biggest grossing film of the series was 1986’s “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” with domestic receipts of $110 million.

Over the weekend, “The Addams Family,” another feature based on a popular ‘60s series, added another $8.2 million from 2,411 screens. That represents an estimated 50% fall-off from the Thanksgiving business, but such drops are expected in post-holiday weeks.

In 17 days of release, “The Addams Family” has grossed about $66 million.

Paramount Motion Picture Group President Barry London expressed elation on Sunday about the results and said he is “very optimistic” about holding onto the market. Casting a wary eye toward the arrival of “Hook,” he added that “you have to be concerned about it and all the films coming into the marketplace,” which, he explained, is why Paramount chose to get a jump start by its early release dates.

No. 3 for the weekend was Columbia’s “My Girl,” starring Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis, Anna Chlumsky and last year’s “Home Alone” star Macaulay Culkin. The bittersweet comedy did an estimated $7 million on 2,100 screens, raising its total take to about $27 million since it opened Nov. 27.

Rounding out the Top 5 films was Disney’s highly praised “Beauty and the Beast” in fourth place, with an estimated $6.5 million on 1,118 screens. Universal Pictures’ release of Martin Scorcese’s tense drama, “Cape Fear,” showed a substantial drop-off in its fourth week, grossing about $4.8 million on 1,707 screens.