Compared with your average quirky comedy, Benny & Joon has a major commercial plus: the presence of teen heartthrob Johnny Depp. Nevertheless, the movie was considered by many insiders to be a tough sell, and so its opening weekend gross was surprisingly promising. Though at only 408 screens, Benny earned a sensational $8,052 per-screen average (the highest of any movie this week) and received a straight A from audiences polled by CinemaScore. Not that it took away much business from Indecent Proposal. The romantic drama is fast on its way to becoming a through-the-roof smash, having grossed $47 million in only 12 days. Meanwhile, the Wesley Snipes police thriller Boiling Point opened to a lukewarm $4 million. WEEKEND TOP TEN GROSS WEEKS IN GROSS* TO DATE RELEASE
1 $14.72 Indecent Proposal $47.00 2 Paramount (1,847 screens) 2 $4.93 The Sandlot $13.06 2 20th Century Fox (1,775 screens) 3 $4.01 Boiling Point $4.01 1 Warner Bros. (1,425 screens) 4 $3.32 Cop And A Half $17.93 3 Universal (1,793 screens) 5 $3.29 Benny & Joon $3.29 1 MGM (408 screens) 6 $2.96 Huck Finn $16.48 3 Walt Disney (1,767 screens) 7 $2.03 Teenage...Turtles III $37.25 5 New Line (2,042 screens) 8 $1.94 The Crying Game $57.12 21 Miramax (974 screens) 9 $1.53 Unforgiven $91.10 37 Warner Bros. (1,026 screens) 10 $1.41 Point Of No Return $25.91 5 Warner Bros. (1,250 screens) audience polling information provided by Cinemascore *weekend of April 16-18 (all dollar figures in millions)
