Despite The Good Numbers, Not All Is Well In Hollywood

Summer is the season to be jolly for Hollywood. Midway through it, movie studios have found plenty of cause for merriment.

“Batman Forever” broke the record, previously held by “Jurassic Park,” for the most money taken in on a movie’s three-day opening weekend, posting $52.8 million in domestic grosses. It passed the $100 million mark before the end of two weeks in release. As of last Wednesday, after five days in release, “Apollo 13” had grossed nearly $40 million, and after 12 days in nationwide release, “Pocahontas” had grossed roughly $75 million.

These movies, like “Batman Forever,” should quickly pass the $100 million mark, which separates the mere successes from the veritable mega-hits, and could end up with the $200 million mark in their sights.

But all is not rosy, and all has not gone as expected.

To a large extent, what’s been missing from the summer box office are legs, which is what a movie is said to have when its weekly earnings hold fairly steady for a while.

Just before the summer season got officially under way, “While You Were Sleeping” exhibited great legs. As a result, while it made only about $10 million on its opening weekend, it’s still on many screens and is poised to approach $75 million, which will probably fall only $5-10 million short of the final take for “Congo,” despite the latter movie’s $25 million opening weekend.

Business for “Congo” plummeted more than 50 percent in its second week, while business for “Batman Forever” plunged more than 40 percent in its second week.

It’s too soon to tell what kind of stamina “Apollo 13” or “Pocahontas” will have. The latter in particular should go the distance, because it is aimed at kids, who are the most dependable of all audience members for repeat business.