‘Crimson’ Ends Spring Drought : Box office: The film’s surprising $18.6-million opening-weekend total sets the stage for a succession of big summer releases.

Industry power-breakfasters heaved a collective sigh Monday morning: The box-office drought is over. Disney’s submarine adventure “Crimson Tide,” starring Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman, brought in a dazzling $18.6 million in its opening weekend on 2,382 screens, auguring well for summer, when 40% of the industry’s box-office business is recorded.

It came on a weekend not traditionally known for delivering big box office, with Mother’s Day celebrations and basketball playoffs as major distractions.

The $55-million “Crimson” was a gamble, since it was neither a sequel nor based on a hot book property. Yet it delivered the strongest opening since last November, when Disney’s “The Santa Clause” opened to slightly more than $19 million and went on to gross about $145 million. “Reviews helped us a lot,” Disney studio Chairman Joe Roth said of “Crimson.” “There were some real money reviews.”

Though sold as an action movie, at its core “Crimson” is about a dramatic confrontation between two individuals, said John Krier of Exhibitor Relations Co., which tracks box-office results. Thus, positive critical response was essential in elevating the film from a good to a great opening.

Roth pointed out that the marketing campaign targeted the same audience for such hits as “The Hunt for Red October,” “Patriot Games” and “Clear and Present Danger.”

But “Crimson” opened better than any of them, accounting for about two in every five tickets sold over the weekend. The film’s $6-million take on Friday drew heavily on the over-25 audience, which is not known for rushing out to see movies during the first weekend.

By Sunday, said Richard Cook, president of marketing and distribution at Disney, the demographics had evened out, capturing a wide age range, and more importantly, females as well as males.

The calculated risk of opening May 12 seems to have paid off, as the summer moviegoing habit had not yet kicked in. The romantic comedies “While You Were Sleeping” and “French Kiss” were only partially satisfying the yen.

Disney had long planned to get a leg up by arriving before the mega-sequel “Die Hard With a Vengeance” and in advance of the Memorial Day weekend glut.

How much damage will the new “Die Hard” inflict on the submarine adventure when it blows into town on Friday? Disney isn’t sidestepping the potential impact. “We’ll take a hit,” Roth said, “but we hope to keep it to 20% to 25%.”

Meanwhile, the date-night audience seems to be more than content with “Sleeping” and “French Kiss,” though again Disney got the jump on the latter by two weeks. In its fourth weekend “Sleeping” was neck and neck with “Kiss,” which was only in weekend two. Both will end up as hits, but “Sleeping” cost less and will gross more. A third love-minded film, “Forget Paris,” opens Friday.

Among new arrivals, Miramax’s “The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain,” banking on the new stardom of Hugh Grant (even though it’s essentially an ensemble piece), scored only a modest $2.8 million on 954 screens.

Goldwyn’s “The Perez Family,” arriving a week after another Latino-themed film, “My Family,” brought in $1.1 million on 850 screens. “My Family” took in $1.6 million on only 414 screens.

“Crimson’s” big opening also has an important psychological effect on attendance. In a year with a few moderate hits--such as “Outbreak,” “Sleeping” and “Legends of the Fall”--but no blockbusters, a hit like “Crimson Tide” shakes moviegoers out of their torpor. “With this week we’re finally catching up to last year,” Krier said. “That’s definitely a good sign.”