WEEKEND BOX OFFICE : National Box Office Goes Soft

This summer’s fire appears to be burning out under the box office. “Betrayed,” the United Artists release starring Debra Winger and Tom Berenger, came in No. 2 during a weekend notable mostly for its ho-hum theater attendance. The Costa-Gavras thriller, in which Winger plays an FBI agent who infiltrates a white supremacist group, was long on early hype but short on good reviews. The film grossed $5.5 million at 1,036 theaters last weekend, or $5,342 per screen.

*Universal broadened the release of its controversial film “The Last Temptation of Christ,” from 18 to 48 screens nationwide. But the film’s per-screen performance dropped considerably, from $26,459 to $11,701 since last week.

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.

Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average in Release 1. “Nightmare on Elm St. 4” $7.0 1,767 2 (New Line) $25.1 $3,955 2. “Betrayed” $5.5 1,036 1 (MGM/UA) $5.5 $5,342 3. “A Fish Called Wanda” $3.8 1,223 7 (MGM/UA) $30.8 $3,083 4. “Die Hard” $3.7 1,432 7 (20th Century Fox) $52.0 $2,562 5. “Young Guns” $3.6 1,371 3 (20th Century Fox) $23.0 $2,645 * “The Last Temptation of Christ” $.562 48 3 (Universal) $2.1 $11,701