The Hunt for Red October was a close second with $9.1 million ($15.3 million adjusted), off only 18%. Joe Versus the Volcano retained third place but fell 25% to $5.3 million ($8.9 million adjusted).

In anticipation of the Academy Awards the Monday immediately after this weekend, Warner Bros. wisely added 300 screens to its Best Picture and Best Actress contender, Driving Miss Daisy. That addition meant an increase of 28% to $3.7 million ($6.2 million adjusted) and a return trip to the top five with a fourth place finish. This strategy showed that the studio had faith that Tandy and company could pull out the win and then be well-positioned the next weekend with enough screens secured to capitalize on any awards bump in the face of a big debut. The number five slot went to House Party, thanks to its small decrease of 10% to $3.2 million ($5.4 million adjusted).

The Fourth War was the only other new wide release on over 1,000 screens. In 15th place with $776,000 ($1.3 million adjusted), this one was a nonfactor for anyone and admittedly, I had to look it up to see that it was a Cold War drama with Roy Scheider and directed by John Frankenheimer. It would fall off the its already low cliff by 80% in week two and never be heard from again.
The final weekend of this long month saw the phenomenon of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shatter the Hunt for Red October's four-week old record for non-summer and non-Thanksgiving debuts by $8 million. It rode an inescapable wave of pop culture awareness that began in 1984 with the introduction of a limited printing of the original comic book and the Saturday morning cartoon spawned in 1987 that ran until 1993. A live action film was a logical step and New Line happily obliged on March 30, 1990 with a very wide release on over 2,000 screens and gave fans the fun ride they wanted. Splinter and his protégés earned $25.4 million ($42.6 million adjusted), which was only about $2 million less than the rest of the top five combined. Obviously, this was the third big blockbuster of the month, which would earn a total of $135.3 million ($227 million adjusted).

Full disclosure time: My nine-year-old self in 1984 was in a local comic book store with my older step-brothers. I distinctly remember picking up the first issue and making disparaging remarks that included the harsh pre-adolescent criticisms of "this is so stupid" and "why would anyone want to read this?" If only I had a time machine to go back to that day and make that ignorant nine-year old pluck down the money for that comic. This is just proof that I was stupid, stupid kid.

With an added 200 screens, that quintessential "prostitute with a heart of gold" film outperformed its debut weekend with an increase of 11% to $12.5 million ($21 million adjusted). Word-of-mouth was apparently spreading and Pretty Woman began its very leggy journey. The Hunt for Red October dropped another 28% to $6.5 million ($10.9 million adjusted) and was well on its way to a total domestic gross of $120.7 million ($202.5 million adjusted). Fueled by the power of little gold men, Driving Miss Daisy rose 41% to $5.2 million ($8.7 million adjusted) and retained the number four space.

The only other film that dared take on Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo was Opportunity Knocks, a comedy about con men that basically served as an outlet to let Dana Carvey do a variety of impressions. Apparently, the public saw this for what it was - an extended Saturday Night Live skit they could watch at home for free and save themselves about 95 minutes to boot. Opportunity Knocks earned the number five spot with only $3.5 million ($5.9 million adjusted) and a low $11.4 million total gross ($19.1 million adjusted) would result for the comedy.

Here's the final score for March 1990: Despite The Hunt for Red October and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles beating Pretty Woman is both opening debut and title word count, Roberts charmed her way through a box office marathon that would be make her film the fourth highest grossing film of 1990. With something at the box office to really write home about in the month of March, will April give us more fresh cinematic blood or would the turtles and a soon-to-be retired prostitute continue to buoy the box office? We shall see.

Source for 1990 box office totals: Variety.

Continued:       1       2       3