BREATHING NEW LIFE INTO AN EPIC; RESTORED `GONE WITH THE WIND' HITS THEATERS.

Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer

The real all-time box-office champ returns to theaters today, and there isn't an iceberg anywhere to be found.

Although ``Titanic'' may be the top domestic grosser at $585 million, its total of tickets sold is not even half that of ``Gone With the Wind.'' Based on admissions, the 1939 epic has brought in an inflation-adjusted total of $1.3 billion. The second-highest, ``Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,'' trails by nearly $300 million, Variety estimated earlier this year.

A lavishly restored version of the Civil War romance will open at more than 200 theaters today, with one-third more image than what most moviegoers have experienced and a remastered digital soundtrack. Chances are good that the 59-year-old film can move up several notches on the all-time list of unadjusted grosses, where it is now 25th with $191.9 million.

It was No. 1 for more than two decades until ``Sound of Music'' bumped it off in 1965.

The new ``Gone With the Wind'' contains a dozen minutes of digitally restored footage, including the memorable scene just before intermission in which Vivien Leigh pulls a radish out of the ground at sunset and vows, ``As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again.''

``It's got great characters and huge backgrounds, so if it's projected on a 40-feet screen, it needs to be in pristine condition,'' said Greg Granello, president of EDS Digital, which performed the digital restoration. ``I think audiences will be amazed because it really brings you back to the theatrical experience and what kind of movie it takes to carry an audience away.''

The re-release includes a revival of Technicolor's dye-transfer process in the original height and width. And it comes in the sunny afterglow of 1997's amazing performance of ``Star Wars,'' which prompted Ted Turner to suggest late last year that New Line Cinema make use of the latest technology for a revamped ``Gone With the Wind.''

The ``Star Wars'' trilogy pulled in a stunning quarter-billion dollars domestically after a massive publicity blitz over new digital scenes. 20th Century Fox, eager to impress George Lucas and secure rights to future ``Star Wars'' films, booked showings in more than 2,000 theaters for each film.

New Line has more modest ambitions. It hopes to shift prints from big-city markets to smaller towns as the summer wears on, keeping ``Gone With the Wind'' playing in about 200 locales through August.

It's hard to imagine that the most frequent moviegoers will choose ``Gone With the Wind'' over, say, ``Armageddon,'' ``The X-Files'' or ``Dr. Dolittle'' because reissues are tricky. Disney has generated solid business with a handful of animated reissues that appear every few years such as ``Snow White,'' ``The Little Mermaid'' and ``101 Dalmatians.''

But in most cases, studios usually limit themselves to a few venues in major markets with 50 to 100 screens nationwide for a month. Universal pulled in $1.7 million from a restored ``Vertigo'' in 1996; Paramount grossed a similar amount from a 25th-anniversary release of ``The Godfather'' last year.

Michael Schlessinger, director of repertory sales at Sony Pictures, believes that keeping the screen count fairly low for a re-release makes sense. ``I'm very excited to see it, and I think New Line's approach is really smart,'' he said. ``A `Star Wars' reissue is a phenomenon that occurs only once or twice a century.''

Although the movie was released by MGM, it is now owned by Time Warner Inc. It became Turner's property in the mid-'80s as part of his purchase of MGM's library. Turner re-released ``Gone With the Wind'' with a restored soundtrack in 1988 and sold his entire company to Time Warner in 1996.

THE REAL ALL-TIME CHAMPIONS

The top 10 films, adjusting admissions to 1998 dollars:

Year Gross

Title released Studio xx

Gone With the Wind 1939 MGM $1,299.4

Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs 1937 Disney $1,034.3

Star Wars 1977 Fox $812

E.T. - The Extraterrestrial 1982 Universal $725.4

101 Dalmatians 1961 Disney $656.6

Bambi 1942 Disney $646.1

Jaws 1975 Universal $590.3

Titanic 1997 Paramount $585

The Sound of Music 1965 Fox $565.8

Ten Commandments  1956 Paramount $547.6

xx In millions

SOURCE: Variety

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box

PHOTO (1-2--Color) The difference between the original print of ``Gone With the Wind,'' top, and the restored version, above, is crystal-clear.

BOX: THE REAL ALL-TIME CHAMPIONS (See text)