Weekend Box Office : Baseball Film in a League of Its Own

Moviegoing took a dive on the Easter Sunday weekend and only one of the five new films attracted good, if not booming, business. That was “Major League II,� from Warner Bros., starring Charlie Sheen. Opening to sluggish response were “Clifford,� in seventh place, and “Thumbelina,� in eighth. The other two debuting films didn’t make the Top 10: The star-laden “The House of the Spirits� grossed $1.7 million and ranked 11th, and “Jimmy Hollywood,� a film by Barry Levinson, took in only $1.5 million for 14th place.

* Foreign-language film Oscar winner “Belle Epoque� from Spain is entering its own beautiful box-office era. The movie did a big $21,581 alone at the Royal Theatre on Los Angeles’ Westside.

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Major League II� $7 2,167 1 (Warner Bros.) $9.7 $3,249 2. “D2--The Mighty Ducks� $6.3 2,215 2 (Walt Disney) $21.9 $2,834 3. “The Paper� $5.6 1,544 2 (Universal) $15.6 $3,650 4. “Naked Gun 33 1/3� $5.3 2,383 3 (Paramount) $33.4 $2,237 5. “Schindler’s List� $3.8 1,382 16 (Universal) $74.7 $2,750 6. “Above the Rim� $2.7 863 2 (New Line) $8.7 $3,151 7. “Clifford� $2.5 1,014 1 (Orion) $2.5 $2,536 8. “Thumbelina� $2.3 1,502 1 (Warner Bros.) $3.1 $1,544 9. “Four Weddings ... “ $2 240 4 (Gramercy) $3.86 $8,482 10. “Guarding Tess� $1.8 1,445 4 (TriStar) $22 $1,264 * “Belle Epoque� $311,194 550 6 (Sony Classics) $1.3 $5,460

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.