2 Studios Play ‘You Go First’

“Cutthroat Weekend,� the period that saw three major movies open nationwide amid much hype and advertising dollars, was mired in controversy Monday as the studios delayed releasing the final figures until their rivals reported in.

Monday morning, Paramount Pictures claimed victory, saying “The Ghost and the Darkness,� an adventure-thriller about man-eating lions in Africa starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer, outdistanced the competition with an estimated $8.8 million in ticket sales.

Coming in second, Paramount said, was “The First Wives Club,� the husbands-get-their-comeuppance comedy featuring Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton. It grossed an estimated $8.7 million over the weekend and now has taken in more than $70 million in four weeks.

But even as Paramount was hailing its numbers, some said New Line Cinema’s action film, “The Long Kiss Goodnight,� starring Geena Davis and Samuel L. Jackson, actually belonged on top, although estimates pegged it at only $8.4 million.

When it was all over, there were enough frayed nerves and bruised egos for every therapist in Beverly Hills.

Both studios were so suspicious of each other that neither released actual totals by press time.

Sources said each studio deliberately lingered on Monday in releasing its figures so that it would see what its rivals would report--and then report higher numbers.

“They are both fooling around,� said one exhibition source. “But how are you going to prove it? They’ll have an excuse.�

If there was one point everyone agreed on, it was that Paramount and New Line had released estimates that were too high.

On Sunday, Paramount estimated “The Ghost and the Darkness� at $9.3 million and New Line’s figure was $9 million for “The Long Kiss Goodnight.�

“Everybody was reporting grosses that were nowhere near what they actually did on the weekend,� said one Hollywood insider. “Numbers can’t lie that much.�

Furthermore, New Line’s defenders noted that “Long Kiss Goodnight� not only performed strongly in New York City, but even at theaters owned by Sumner Redstone, who runs rival Paramount.

But New Line had its critics as well, and they said to think New Line won was “mind-boggling.�

“New Line has played the underdog too long,� said a film industry executive. “They did a great job with their movie. They should take credit for it. This movie is not going to live or die being No. 1 at the box office for one or two days.�

One studio executive said for Hollywood to release a cluster of key films on the same weekend was pure ego and hurt each studio to some degree.

None of the films managed to crack the $10-million barrier, he noted, and in the case of “The Chamber,� Universal Pictures actually had lackluster results.

The poor showing of “The Chamber� was an even bigger surprise than the rumble between the top three films. Adapted from a John Grisham bestseller, “The Chamber� opened in fourth place at $5.6 million, far below the results of other blockbusters based on his bestsellers: “The Firm,� “The Pelican Brief� and “A Time to Kill.�

When Imagine Entertainment’s Ron Howard and producer Brain Grazer bought the film rights to the concept of “The Chamber� three years ago, the partners and Universal paid a record $3.75 million for film rights based on a one-page outline of the book--the highest ever paid for a concept at that time.

Phil Garfinkle, senior vice president at Entertainment Data, a box-office tracking service, said “The Chamber� may have been done in by too many Grisham films.

“I think people may have gotten a little overburdened with Grisham books,� Garfinkle said. “ ‘A Time to Kill’ is still out there playing [in theaters].� He added that audiences may be confused between the two movies, even though they are different stories with different casts.

Garfinkle said what the weekend box office indicates is that there is stiff competition for the audiences’ attention and pocketbook right now, including the baseball playoffs and college and professional football games on TV.