Leap Year

Long lines at the movies

In most industries, 1982 was either bad, disastrous or forget-it. But for once Hollywood was not playing follow-the-leader, and the movie business had its biggest earnings ever. Ticket sales reached a 21-year high of nearly 1.2 billion, up 9% from 1981, and a preliminary estimate puts box-office grosses at a record $3.4 billion. The final two weeks of the year witnessed an explosion in receipts, with Tootsie the hottest current picture, bringing in $11.2 million over the New Year's weekend.

The top grosser for the entire year was, of course, E.T., which ran up $322 million through Jan. 2 and by now may have displaced Star Wars ($325 million) as the biggest moneymaker of all time. Several light-years behind were the rest of the year's top ten: On Golden Pond ($120 million), Rocky III ($119 million), An Officer and a Gentleman ($109 million), Porky's ($107 million), Star Trek II ($85 million), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas ($74.5 million), Poltergeist ($74 million), Chariots of Fire ($62 million) and Annie ($58 million).

Hollywood executives are now scurrying around, looking for clues so they can make 1983 into a Bonanza II. But the truth is that there probably are no explanations. It was just one of those years. "It's simple," says Barry Diller, chairman of Paramount Pictures. "Are there movies people are interested in seeing or aren't there? The business is not affected by recession, depression or inflation. It is just affected by movies. In 1982 there were more movies people wanted to see than in other years." This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.