`SEINFELD' TRIO REPORTEDLY READY TO SIGN.

Byline: Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Months after Jerry Seinfeld's cast mates grabbed headlines with their $1 million-an-episode salary bid, we hear from people in the know that deals are now ``about 85 percent'' completed for Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards to join Jerry for a ninth season of their NBC hitcom.

Not surprisingly, it won't be for a million bucks per show. However, each of the three actors, who've been getting $150,000 an episode this season, will be ``much happier'' with their new salaries, say our sources. Says one insider, ``Compromise is the buzz word of the day.'' Industry scuttlebutt has it that the new payday will fall between $250,000 and $300,000. Plus perks, lots of perks. Plus stock options.

To paraphrase that old song: Mothers, get your children to grow up to be supporting players on a sitcom.

The Oscar ouch

You keep hearing how an Oscar helps the box office of a movie. Well, that's certainly not the case this year. Miramax was so sure the nine Oscars garnered by ``The English Patient'' would make it a certain want-to-see that it increased its release by 407 theaters. Turned out not to be too swift a move. The picture that is going down as one of the most-lauded films in Oscar history only managed to bring in a mere $2,143 per screen during the three-day weekend.

``Fargo,'' for which Frances McDormand took home Best Actress honors, brought in a mere $972 per screen over the weekend.

And ``Shine'' - which earned Geoffrey Rush the Best Actor Oscar - did even worse, averaging only $870 per screen. How bad is that, really? It's awful. If you take an average ticket price of $5, figure there are four showings of a film a day, you've got about 15 people watching ``Shine'' at one time. Ouch!

The industry eye

Leslie Nielsen, who has just begun work on ``Mr. Magoo'' in Vancouver, British Columbia, won't have much time for leisure this year. He's slated to finish playing the accident-prone cartoon character in early July and start the feature ``Wrongfully Accused'' a few weeks later. The latter is described as a send-up of ``The Fugitive,'' and Leslie expects that, when he finishes ``Accused,'' he'll be getting into uniform as the captain in the big-screen version of ``The Love Boat.'' Savage Steve Holland, who'll direct, has just started writing the latest version of the ``Boat'' project that was forced into a lengthy dry dock because of legal hassles and script problems.

Metal country

Hank Williams III will be on hand here for the April 23 Academy of Country Music show. ``I'm just hoping the plane makes it out to L.A.,'' drawls the scion of country's legendary Williams clan. He points out, ``Hank Sr. died when he was 29. My dad had his accident and almost died when he was 26,'' he says, referring to Hank Jr.'s near-fatal 1,500-foot fall on Idaho's Ajax Mountain. ``I'm 24, and I want to at least get another album out before becoming a legend.'' Welcome to the quirky humor of Hank III, who spent eight years trying to make it as a heavy-metal musician before joining the country music fold.

With his unusual window on the world, Williams is in a position to know that Al Jourgensen of the metal band Ministry, as well as other notable metal heads, often play a classic country tune or two before going out to create mayhem on the stage. In fact, Jourgensen has a side band that plays country-flavored music. ``It's called Buck Satan and the 666 Shooters,'' reports Hank III. As for his decision a couple of years back to start playing real country music, he admits, ``My dad's a lot prouder of me.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1) Leslie Nielsen is tackling the big-screen ``Mr. Magoo,'' which is filming in British Columbia.

(2) ``Fargo,'' starring Oscar winner Frances McDormand, earned only $972 per screen last weekend.