Americans flocked to the movies in 1989 and spent more money at the box office than ever before.
Seven films sold over $100 million worth of tickets each, the first time so many have achieved blockbuster status.Based on industry estimates, admissions at the nation's movie theaters rose from 1.08 billion in 1988 to 1.12 billion, the highest total in five years. Moviegoers spent more than $5 billion, smashing last year's box-office record of $4.45 billion.
Nevertheless, as the 1990s begin, Hollywood is shivering with as much dread as anticipation. The Christmas movie business was a disaster, with ticket sales dropping 23 percent from 1988. Although theaters were thronged over the New Year's weekend, the crowds did not give much of a hint of what January and February would bring.
This weekend - the all-important post-holiday weekend - will indicate how well the Christmas movies will hold up and whether the box-office expansion that began in June 1986 will be continuing or coming to an end.
Art Murphy, analyst for the trade paper Variety, said the current 3 1/2-year expansion was one of the two longest in the past 40 years.
Typically, a three-year expansion is followed by a box-office recession.
Among the year's seven blockbusters, the runaway leader was "Batman," with Jack Nicholson as the deadly Joker.
Because his contract gives him a share of merchandising revenue and a fat chunk of the film rentals earned by Warner Brothers, Nicholson may make as much as $40 million.
According to Variety's figures, "Batman" sold more than $251 million worth of tickets, followed by Paramount's "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," with $196 million, and Warner Brothers' "Lethal Weapon 2," starring Mel Gibson as a wild cop, with $147 million.
It only takes a couple of blockbusters to make a year, and "Batman" and "Lethal Weapon" were enough to lift Warner Brothers into first place among the studios.
The success of Tri-Star's "Look Who's Talking," about a baby who tries to find a husband for his unmarried mother, was another surprise. The movie, which was initially rejected as a dumb idea, has grossed $115 million so far.
The movie has also been a windfall for Bruce Willis, who plays the voice of the baby. Willis took little salary but asked for a share of any profits. His reward will be $10 million.
An interesting trend in 1989 was the success of movies about children, or aimed at an audience of children.
Just as the aging of the movie audience began to be reflected in more serious themes and more sophisticated comedies two years ago, last year the nesting habits of the baby boom generation was being portrayed on the screen and filling seats in the neighborhood multiplexes.
In addition to "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" and "Look Who's Talking," Universal's "Parenthood" - a comedy about the pitfalls of raising children - was the eighth most successful movie of the year.
Animated films have made a comeback as part of this trend. Disney's "Little Mermaid" has grossed nearly $50 million.