‘Die Hard 2’ Has a Life of Its Own

With $14.5 million in ticket sales at more than 2,500 theaters, 20th Century Fox’s “Die Hard 2” held on to the No. 1 spot at the box office for the second week in a row. Starring Bruce Willis as an off-duty cop who single-handedly takes on a group of terrorists who virtually take control of a Washington airport, the action-adventure has now earned more than $60 million.

But “Die Hard 2” aside, the big news was the startling performance of Paramount Pictures’ “Ghost,” which looks to be materializing as a summer sleeper.

Starring Patrick Swayze as a deceased Wall Street investor who teams with charlatan psychic Whoopi Goldberg to help save the life of his endangered lover Demi Moore, the romantic comedy-drama was ranked second with ticket sales of $12.1 million on 1,101 screens, and a spirited per-screen average of $11,073. That’s the second-highest per-screen average of the summer, following the opening weekend performance of Tri-Star’s “Total Recall,” which had a per-screen average of $12,395 (with ticket sales of $25.5 million on 2,060 screens).

By comparison, both Fox’s “Ford Fairlane,” starring controversial Andrew Dice Clay as a “rock ‘n’ roll detective” and Warner Bros.’ Bill Murray comedy, “Quick Change,” had disappointing debuts.

The fifth-place “Ford Fairlane” had ticket sales of about $6.5 million at 1,246 screens, for about $5,216 per-screen. Ranked seventh, “Quick Change” had about $4.7 million in ticket sales at 1,596 screens, a per-screen average of about $3,007.

Meanwhile, Paramount’s racing drama “Days of Thunder” took third, dropping only about 22% from the previous week. With weekend ticket sales of more than $8 million, the heavily promoted Tom Cruise vehicle has now grossed more than $54 million.

The Disney animated perennial, “Jungle Book,” was fourth with ticket sales of $7.7 million.

Rounding out the weekend’s top 10, in estimated figures: the Disney Studio’s “Dick Tracy,” $4.8 million ($85 million cumulative); Universal’s “The Jetsons,” $3.1 million ($9 million); “Total Recall,” $3.1 million ($104 million); Paramount’s “Another 48 HRS.,” $3 million ($71 million).