"The Addams Family" won the box office derby hands-down, collecting a screaming $24.2 million in its first week.
Paramount Pictures, which bought "The Addams Family" from cash-strapped Orion Pictures earlier this year, said the black comedy's debut was the best fall opening in film history. The movie, like the 1960s television series, is based on the cartoons of Charles Addams.Director Martin Scorsese's stylish drama "Cape Fear," starring Robert De Niro and Nick Nolte, claimed second place with a gate of $10 million, down just 2 percent from a week ago. Box-office figures were released by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.
In an animated movie shootout, Walt Disney Co.'s "Beauty and the Beast" grossed $9.6 million for third place, easily burying Universal Pictures' "An American Tail: Fievel Goes West." Disney said it was the best three days' gross for a new animated film.
Producer Steven Spielberg's "An American Tail" earned a mousy $3.4 million for fourth, making less than a fourth per-screen than "Beauty and the Beast."
Bette Midler's war musical "For the Boys" premiered in two theaters, earning a strong $71,348. It moved wider Wednesday.
Here are the top movie ticket sales according to Exhibitor Relations:
1. "The Addams Family," $24.2 million (first week).
2. "Cape Fear," $10 million ($24.3 million, two weeks).
3. "Beauty and the Beast," $9.6 million ($9.9 million, two weeks).
4. "An American Tail: Fievel Goes West," $3.4 million (first week).
5. "Curly Sue," $2.4 million ($25.9 million, five weeks).
6. "All I Want for Christmas," $1.7 million ($10.4 million, three weeks).
7. "The People Under the Stairs," $1.6 million ($17.9 million, four weeks).
8. "Little Man Tate," $1.5 million ($19.3 million, seven weeks).
9. "Other People's Money," $990,464 ($22.6 million, six weeks).
10. "Billy Bathgate," $987,830 ($13.7 million, four weeks).