Los Angeles The US summer season continues today (21 June) with the release of Charles Russell's Eraser, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Walt Disney's latest animated feature, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Exhibitors and distributors will be looking for a pick-up at the box-office after last weekend's disappointing figures, which resulted in only the second weekend of the year with numbers lower than the corresponding period in 1995.

The 26% dip over the same weekend in 1995 was fuelled by a number of factors, including the disappointing US$19 million opening of Ben Stiller's

The Cable Guy, starring Jim Carrey, which received indifferent reviews. Another factor was the impact of the NBA basketball finals, with the final games going out prime time on both Friday and Sunday evenings.

Sunday's deciding game was, according to NBC, the most-watched basketball contest in NBA history, with 60 million people tuning in in the US alone.

The box-office dip against the previous year can also be explained by the US$52.8 million opening of Batman Forever in 1995.

Christopher Pickard

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