Weekend Box Office : ‘Christmas’ a Halloween Weekend Hit

Tim Burton’s bony Pumpkin King ruled the Halloween weekend box office. “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Burton’s spooky stop-motion musical collaboration with composer Danny Elfman, tripled its number of screens and grossed $8.2 million.

The TV takeoff “The Beverly Hillbillies” was bumped to second place with $4.9 million, followed by autumn’s highest-grossing film, the futuristic “Demolition Man,” with $4.2 million and a four-week total of $45.6 million. Halloween weekend’s only wide new release was Carl Reiner’s spoof of thrillers, “Fatal Instinct,” which came in at No. 6 with a less than thrilling $3.5 million.

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Nightmare Before Christmas” $8.2 1,654 3 (Touchstone) $16.5 $4,965 2. “Beverly Hillbillies” $4.9 2,148 3 (Fox) $25.4 $2,292 3. “Demolition Man” $4.2 2,141 4 (Warner Bros.) $45.6 $1,963 4. “Cool Runnings” $3.7 1,832 5 (Walt Disney) $38.2 $2,017 5. “Rudy” $3.6 1,465 3 (TriStar) $11.3 $2,460 6. “Fatal Instinct” $3.5 1,886 1 (MGM) $3.5 $1,857 7. “Malice” $2.9 1,519 5 (Columbia) $36.7 $1,912 8. “The Joy Luck Club” $2 600 8 (Hollywood) $21.6 $3,414 9. “Age of Innocence” $1.5 839 7 (Columbia) $27.2 $1,852 10. “Judgment Night” $1.4 1,350 3 (Universal) $10 $1,045 * “Fearless” $1 124 3 (Warner Bros.) $1.5 $8,145

* Peter Weir’s “Fearless,” starring Jeff Bridges and Rosie Perez, expanded from eight to 124 screens and grossed a lively $1 million, for a promising per-screen average of $8,145. SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.