Hollywood Maintains Solid Box-Office Take

Moviegoers have shelled out more than $3.3 billion so far this year at the nation’s box offices, about 2% less than collected at the turnstiles by this time last year.

The movie business, which usually begins to lag at this time of year, has kept up a solid pace in recent weeks, boosted by a quartet of films dealing with supernatural themes. Leading the pack is the summer’s runaway hit, “Ghost,” which has taken in $111.5 million in seven weeks. Also registering unexpectedly strong showings are the last three films to open in the No. 1 weekend spot--”Darkman,” “Exorcist III” and “Flatliners.”

The year-to-date box-office total reached $3.33 billion over the weekend, compared to $3.38 billion for the same period last year, when the success of “Batman” made for Hollywood’s best summer ever. In 1988, the total had just passed $3 billion at the same point.