A Thanksgiving Feast for Disney’s ‘A Bug’s Life’

“A Bug’s Life� squashed “Antz� with a record-breaking, $46.5-million, five-day Thanksgiving holiday debut. But “Babe: Pig in the City� met “Joe Black� with a dismal $8.5 million in its first five days.

As expected, Disney/Pixar’s “A Bug’s Life� raided box offices across the country, averaging more than $12,000 per theater to gross $33.6 million on 2,686 screens in the past three days, breaking Disney’s own record for the holiday set by 1996’s “101 Dalmatians.�

Paramount’s “The Rugrats Movie� was a sterling runner-up in the box-office sweepstakes with a three-day holiday weekend total of $21.1 million in 2,823 theaters, down a mere 23% from last weekend. “Rugrats� wisely got a week’s jump on the holiday, shattering records for a non-Disney animated feature with its Nov. 20 opening and establishing itself as a force to be reckoned with. After 10 days, “Rugrats� has claimed $58 million, more than double what the film reportedly cost.

As for Universal’s “Babe,� the poor little piglet cried itself no higher than fifth place, and a distant fifth at that: $6.4 million for the three-day weekend on 2,385 screens. The wisdom of getting into a three-way fight with two highly promoted family films had been a subject of internal debate at the studio as early as this summer, when there still was a chance to steer the $80-million sequel away from the slaughterhouse by moving its release date.

Arriving on the heels of the disappointing performance of another high-budget Universal release--the $90-million “Meet Joe Black�--and the expensive dismissal of studio Chairman Frank Biondi Jr., the poor showing of “Babe� stoked the rumor mill as to the long-term (or even short-term) health of Universal production head Casey Silver. “Joe Black� brought in an estimated $5.8 million in its third weekend, for about $36 million to date. Universal has another film, the color remake of “Psycho,� opening Friday, and its outcome should provide more edge-of-your-seat excitement than the best attraction on the Universal City tour.

Over at Disney, the company set a five-day record of $95.2 million for its three top films and an industry record with three films each grossing more than $14 million in a single weekend. According to distribution chief Phil Barlow, the audience for “Bug’s Life� was extremely varied, leaning slightly toward females, with only a third of the total audience being kiddies and another third being adults over 25 years of age. In five days, “Bug’s Life� has grossed more than half of what “Antz� accumulated in nine weeks (“Antz� is nearing the end of its run with about $86 million so far). Other good news for the studio comes from the fact that, after a slower-than-expected start for “Enemy of the State,� starring Will Smith, the adult thriller stayed almost dead even with its debut (down just 10%), grossing another $18 million on 2,435 screens over the Friday-to-Sunday holiday period. With almost $50 million in the bank after 10 days and an absence of meaty action fare for the holidays, “Enemy� could become a $100-million grosser by year’s end.

For Disney’s “The Waterboy,� now in its fourth week, $100 million is already a distant memory. The studio’s third film in the top four sold another $14 million in tickets over the weekend on 2,782 screens. With almost $125 million in just four weeks, “Waterboy� remains the movie to beat for the 1998 holiday season.

The top 12 movies grossed about $120 million over the past three days (about 70% of which came from the top four movies), a comfortable 22% ahead of last year.

Three other new arrivals showed little promise. Warners’ “Home Fries,� starring Drew Barrymore, did best with $3.7 million over the weekend (and $5.2 million in five days) on 1,925 screens, taking eighth place. The Jerry Springer movie “Ringmaster� was right behind in ninth place, doing comparably better with an estimated $3.6 million in 1,312 theaters and $5.3 million over the five days. The modestly budgeted black comedy “Very Bad Things� sold only $3.3 million in tickets on 1,260 theaters for a $4.7-million total in its first five days.

Tenth place fell to Gramercy Pictures’ “Elizabeth,� which expanded to 516 screens and scored a potent $3.4 million estimated total over the weekend (about $6,500 per theater), pulling in a sizable portion of the sophisticated audience, particularly on Saturday night. So far “Elizabeth� has scored $7 million.

The remaining top 10 player was “I Still Know What You Did Last Summer,� ensconced in seventh place with $4.6 million in its third weekend and a decent $34 million to date. But the teen thriller is about to get the hook as body-count horror fans sample “Psycho.�

Among specialized films playing in big cities, the big star is “Waking Ned Devine.� The Irish comedy had the blarney to gross $190,421 on only nine screens, better than $21,000 a theater, for almost $450,000 in just 10 days. The other stellar attraction is Roberto Begnini’s Italian comedy-drama “Life Is Beautiful,� which performed nobly with $915,000 in 124 theaters. It has amassed $5.3 million in its short run.