‘Cable Guy’ Gets $20.5-Million Reception

Jim Carrey’s “The Cable Guy” shook off some negative reviews to lead the weekend box-office race with an estimated $20.5 million in the till--just about enough to cover the rubber-faced comedian’s paycheck for the film.

Carrey’s $20-million deal was a landmark in Hollywood, prompting other top actors such as Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson to demand similar fees and driving up movie-making costs.

Some industry rivals sought to play down “The Cable Guy” opening, pointing out that Carrey’s last picture, the sequel “Ace Ventura II: Nature Calls,” hit $37.8 million its opening weekend, while “The Mask” sold $23.1 million in tickets in its debut weekend. But there was plenty of joy at Sony, whose Columbia Pictures produced the film, with a spokesman pointing out that “The Mask” went on to gross $119 million and Carrey’s “Dumb & Dumber,” which opened to at $16.3 million, eventually grossed $127 million.

The weekend box-office race saw “The Rock” dipping to $18.2 million in its second weekend, for a gross of about $55.7 million in less than two weeks for Disney’s Hollywood Pictures. The Sean Connery-Nicolas Cage action thriller set on Alcatraz Island actually outperformed “The Cable Guy” on Saturday, bringing in about $8.1 million to $7.6 million, according to Phil Barlow, president of Disney’s distribution arm Buena Vista.

Also continuing to score well was the tornado epic, Warner Bros.’ “Twister,” which hit $200 million in its sixth week of release, tying Warner’s 1989 hit “Batman” for second place in reaching the magic mark in such a short time--both on their 38th day of release, according to Barry Reardon, head of Warners’ distribution. Only 1993’s “Jurassic Park” has reachedthat mark faster--23 days.

“Twister” brought in an estimated $7.7 million over the weekend, falling to fourth place behind “Mission: Impossible,” which earned about $8.4 million for third and has a cumulative gross of about $144 million.

Both “Twister” and “The Cable Guy” benefited from a wide-release strategy, but Sony caused some industry grumbling by sidestepping the usual practice of opening in only one theater complex in a given area. Sony pushed to have more than the usual.

Jeff Blake, head of Sony distribution, said it was a strategy move and that Sony opted to have more theaters in big cities than smaller towns showing the film. He also noted that “Cable Guy” wasn’t shown in nearly as many theaters as “Twister,” “The Rock” or “Mission: Impossible,” in particular, which utilized the largest number of screens so far this year.

Blake also defended Carrey’s salary, saying “by the end of this week Mark Canton will have made his money back.” Canton, head of Columbia/TriStar, was the studio chief who gambled and gave Carrey the huge salary--triggering outrage from rival studios over the ripple effect it had on already huge filmmaking costs.

“Jim earned his money and we are quite happy with having the fourth biggest opening of the year behind ‘Mission: Impossible,’ ‘Twister’ and ‘The Rock,’ ” Blake said.

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Aside from the top four, MGM/UA’s “Moll Flanders” starring Robin Wright and Morgan Freeman opened to about $1.05 million on 280 screens nationwide, according to industry estimates. It was in ninth place. Other openers, which didn’t make the top 10, were “Stealing Beauty,” which played in three New York theaters and brought in $100,600, and “Switchblade Sisters,” which grossed about $15,000 in seven theaters.

Others in the Top 10 were “Dragonheart,” in fifth with about $4.2 million; “Eddie” in sixth with about $3.3 million; “The Phantom” in seventh with $3.05 million; “Spy Hard” in eighth with $1.1 million, and “The Arrival” in tenth with $1 million.

Final weekend figures will be released today.