STUDIO SPOTLIGHT For Universal Pictures, it was really a year of two blockbusters. Liar, Liar ($181.4M) and The Lost World ($229.1M) carried the studio in 1997 as they accounted for an enormous two-thirds of all box office sales for the studio. Only three other Universal films were able to gross more than $30M. With only 11 wide releases last year (down 2 from 1996) the Seagrams-owned studio had little else to smile about as it finished last in market share among the big six studios with total sales of about $620M. However, Universal competed with less titles than the rest and it saw a significant boost from 1996's performance when The Nutty Professor ($128.8M) was the only big hit.

After Fierce Creatures tanked with $9.2M, Universal's first big offering of the year came with the volcano picture Dante's Peak. Its $18.5M opening set a new record for a February opening but its glory was stolen by the strength of the Star Wars films. Despite a record debut, Dante finished second for the weekend behind Star Wars - Special Edition which took in $24.3M in its second lap. The following weekend, The Empire Strikes Back - Special Edition set a new February opening weekend record with $22M. Dante's Peak eventually grossed $67.2M, superb for a February film, and was the studio's third highest-grossing film of 1997.

The studio got its revenge against Luke Skywalker and friends as it brought out the heavy artillery with the Jim Carrey smash Liar, Liar. The day after Liar, Liar smashed the March opening weekend record with $31.4M, Carrey stood triumphantly in front of his peers on stage at the Academy Awards asking "So how was your weekend? Mine was good." The rubber-faced comic knocked Return of the Jedi - Special Edition out of the top spot and spent three weeks there. It spent a total of fourteen weeks in the top ten and reminded Hollywood that Jim Carrey was still the current king of comedy despite his previous outing The Cable Guy ($60.2M).

Universal planted itself on Memorial Day weekend with Steven Spielberg's The Lost World - the sequel to the highest-grossing movie in the world - Jurassic Park. The rest of Tinseltown fled as nobody wanted to get trampled on by the hordes of dino-seeking moviegoers. The Lost World grossed a mammoth $92.7M over the weekend which ran from Thursday night previews until Monday night on the holiday. It was the biggest opening weekend of the year, and of all time. However, sales saw steep declines in the weeks ahead as it did not have the staying power of the original. Jurassic Park spent 16 weeks in the top ten in 1993, but its sequel in 1997 spent only 7 weeks there. Still, the dino sequel achieved 64% of the original's $356.8M domestic gross and is trying to reach 70% of Jurassic Park's $912M worldwide gross which is an average performance for a sequel.

It was not until November that Universal had a popular title again as The Jackal opened at number one. The Bruce Willis-Richard Gere actioner is on course for a $55M final tally. For Richer or Poorer ended the year and looks to finish its run near $32M. Other Universal releases in 1997 were That Old Feeling ($16.4M), McHale's Navy ($4.4M), A Simple Wish ($8.1M), Leave it to Beaver ($10.8M), and Kull the Conqueror ($6.1M).