‘AMADEUS’: BOX-OFFICE STRATEGY

The Oscars were only hours old, but Tuesday-morning newspaper ads for “Amadeus” told the whole story: “Winner! 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture.”

At Orion Pictures, distribution executives were busy booking “Amadeus” into theaters that had other plans for the weekend--until Monday night.

“Bottom line, we expect great things now,” exulted distribution president Bob Cheren. “In order for this picture to broaden out and reach the younger, frequent moviegoers, we knew that the best picture award would be most instrumental. We’re going back into theaters we’ve previously played and expanding into additional theaters.”

Orion’s distribution and marketing scheme gambled on an Oscar climax from the very beginning, according to Cheren.

Although the film debuted six months ago, it was kept in more limited release than its two rivals in the prestige stakes, “The Killing Fields” and “A Passage to India.” Last week, Orion expanded into 489 theaters, positioning the film for possible Oscar glory. Simultaneously, the studio debuted an ingenious “Amadeus” video on rock-oriented MTV and other outlets. Scenes from the film are interspersed with live pop stars--the Beatles, Mick Jagger and Tina Turner, among others--seemingly performing to Mozart’s finest.

“Amadeus” will be in close to 600 theaters by Friday, according to Cheren. The box-office gross, currently at $35 million, should top the $50-million mark in the post-Oscar period before interest wanes, he said.

If that sounds like a tempered prediction, it may be because of a dwindling relationship between Oscar recognition and commercial success. “Gandhi,” for example, didn’t take off as dramatically as some observers expected after its 1982 best-picture Oscar; it grossed a very respectable but non-blockbuster $54 million.

A study of recent box-office trends to be released this week by the CPA firm Laventhol & Horwath says that Oscars have become “poor barometers” of box-office success. The report suggests that the gulf between the Oscar voters and public tastes has broadened dramatically--no surprise to anyone who noted the absence of “Ghostbusters,” “Beverly Hills Cop” and “All of Me” from the major Oscar categories.

From 1970 to 1976, according to the report, all seven best picture winners (films like “Rocky,” “The Sting” and “The Godfather’) went on to reach the all-time Top 100, a list of box-office receipts adjusted for inflation. From 1977 to 1983, only “Kramer vs. Kramer” and “Terms of Endearment” made it.

Orion’s Cheren pointed out that such an analysis leaves out such variables as initial release date and distribution pattern. But grooming or no grooming, “Amadeus” has a long way to go to buck the trend.

BOTTOM OF THE BARREL: “Bolero” may have been passed over by the oh-so-tasteful Oscar voters, but Bo Derek’s bareback (and bare front) riding epic didn’t escape the notice of the Golden Raspberry Awards. The Razzie voters (150 or so critics, publicists, film makers, students and the like) dis-honored “Bolero” in six out of 10 categories at their annual Oscar parody ceremony.

“Bolero” won for worst actress, worst director (John Derek), worst screenplay, worst score and worst picture. Brooke Shields grabbed a worst supporting “actor” award for her mustachioed performance in “Sahara.” Sylvester Stallone won for worst actor in “Rhinestone,” while worst supporting actress award went to Lynn-Holly Johnson for “Where the Boys Are ’84.”

Worst new actress Olivia D’Abo was named for not one but two roles last year: “Bolero” and “Conan the Destroyer.”

BOX OFFICE: “Friday the 13th--Part V: A New Beginning” grossed a huge $8 million at 1,759 theaters last weekend, proving once again that you can fool some of the moviegoers all of the time. “Porky’s Revenge,” no fool itself, grossed $6.2 million on 1,423 screens for second place.

“Mask” moved into national release with big results, grossing $6.1 million on 800 screens for the weekend’s best per-screen average, an auspicious $7,651. “The Last Dragon” and “Baby” grossed $5.3 million and $4 million respectively, both respectable debuts.