The Indie Top 10 and the Other Top 5: 4.3.98 - 4.5.98

by Mark Rabinowitz

Lions Gate's "Love and Death on Long Island" isn't afraid of Virginia
Woolf, coming in a close second to First Look's "Mrs. Dalloway" which
continued to kick some box office booty, with both films gaining 1%
despite losing 1 and 2 screens, respectively. No premieres cracked the
top 10 this week, but Roxie's Nick Broomfield-directed doc, "Kurt and
Courtney" made an entrance into the top 10 in its sixth week of release,
grossing $14,645 for the weekend with a hefty per sheet average of over
seven grand. Zeitgeist's "Taste of Cherry" and New Yorker's "Post
Coitum" both performed well, with the latter picking up a hefty 33% B.O.
return while not adding any screens.

In the Other Top 5, New Line's "Lost in Space" will go down in history
as the film that finally knocked "Titanic" out of its 15-week perch in the top spot.
The sci-fi pic nabbed a hefty $20 mil plus, but will have to have legs
like Betty Grable to make back its $90 million-plus price tag in
domestic release.

Editor's Note: Last week indieWIRE inadvertantly mis-reported the Other
Top 5, leaving Miramax release "Ride" off of the talley. Last wekend's
take for "Ride," which would have placed it at number 3 for the weekend,
follows this week's Other Top 5.

++ THE INDIE TOP 10 ++

MRS. DALLOWAY (First Look): $258,111 (+1%) -- Total: $1,941,968

Week #7 -- 89 Screens (-2) -- $2,900 average per screen

LOVE AND DEATH ON LONG ISLAND (LGF): $212,359 (+1%) -- Total: $1,444,523

Week #5 -- 80 Screens (-1) -- $2,654 average per screen

CAUGHT UP (Live): $130,791 (-18%) -- Total: $6,471,332

Week #6 -- 127 Screens (-111) -- $1,030 average per screen

NIAGARA NIAGARA (Live): $64,192 (+248%) -- Total: $109,536

Week #3 -- 32 Screens (+29) -- $2,006 average per screen

TASTE OF CHERRY (Zeitgeist): $28,223 (+5%) -- Total: $109,536

Week #3 -- 5 Screens (+1) -- $5,645 average per screen

FIREWORKS (Milestone): $26,038 (-42%) -- Total: $184,344

Week #3 -- 7 Screens (-5) -- $3,720 average per screen

POST COITUM (New Yorker): $25,513 (+33%) -- Total: $136,418

Week #4 -- 6 Screens (no change) -- $4,252 average per screen

KURT AND COURTNEY (Roxie): $14,645 -- Total: $109,640

Week #6 -- 2 Screens -- (-2) -- $7,323 average per screen

GENERAL CHAOS (Island Digital): $11,971 -- Total: $50,629

Week #9 -- 3 Screens (no change) -- $3,990 average per screen

GENEALOGIES OF A CRIME (Strand): $7,200 (-14%) -- Total: $20,268

Week#2 -- 1 Screens (no change) -- $7,200 average per screen

++ THE OTHER TOP 5 ++

LOST IN SPACE (New Line): $20,154,919 -- Total: $20,154,919

*Premiere -- 3,306 Screens -- 6,096 average per screen

GOOD WILL HUNTING (Miramax): $3,169,473 (-23%) -- Total: $126,001,553

Week #18 -- 1,576 Screens (-66) -- $2,011 average per screen

RIDE (Miramax): $1,412,575 (-44%) -- Total: $4,479,424

Week #2 -- 509 Screens (+13) -- $2,775 average per screen

THE WEDDING SINGER (New Line): $1,178,282 (-35%) -- Total: $72,880,931

Week #8 -- 1,026 Screens (-660) -- $1,148 average per screen

MR. NICE GUY (New Line): $961,084 (-63%) -- Total: $10,772,797

Week #3 -- 1,091 Screens (-372) -- $881 average per screen

CORRECTION:

(3.27.98-3.29.98)--RIDE (Miramax): $2,513,334 -- Total: $2,513,334

*Premiere -- 496 Screens -- 5,067 average per screen

[All box office figures are provided by Entertainment Data, Inc.
www.entdata.com]

[EDITOR'S NOTE: The Indie Top 10 lists the top grossing EDI tracked
films distributed by companies not owned or affiliated with major
studios or entertainment companies. The Other Top 5 lists the top
grossing EDI tracked films distributed by companies other than the
primary major studios.]