the film opened on january 24, 1986 on 1,253 screens and "daily variety" reported, based on data provided by the studio, that it opened at number one in the united states with an opening weekend gross of $4,781,488, making it crown's first number one weekend film. the following day, they noted that there was industry skepticism about the figure reported and that based on sample data, the film only grossed between $2.2 to $3.6 million which would have ranked it between third and sixth. the following weekend, on the advice of legal counsel, crown did not release any data but "daily variety" estimated that it grossed $890,000 with a 10-day total of $3,750,000. no more data was reported by crown but "daily variety" reported it grossed $270,000 in its third weekend for a total of $4,075,000.