Box office green vs. TV's Olympic gold.

L.A. COUNTY - This year's summer Olympics should prove an economic boon for broadcasters and businesses in Atlanta, but to local movie studios they represent a big black hole in the middle of the summer film season.

As always, studios are making last-minute release date switches as they jockey for the best summer position. But there is an added sense of urgency in 1996 to get films in theaters well in advance of July 19, when the opening ceremonies of the Olympics will mark the beginning of a two-week period when Americans are expected to be glued to their TV sets instead of going to the movies.

"Any time there's a major event like this, you see a lot of counter-programming," said Arthur Rockwell, research director with Los Angeles-based financial research firm Yaeger Capital Markets. "The studios don't want to put out the big, heavy action-adventure stuff, the adult male and younger male pictures, because they don't want to compete with the Olympics."

The summer season, by far the biggest quarter of the year for movie ticket sales, officially kicks off on Memorial Day weekend starting May 24. As was the case last year, though, some studios will push out big-budget films a week or two early to stretch out the season and avoid competing with other blockbusters coming out on Memorial Day.

'Twister' dodges 'Mission'

Warner Bros., for example, originally scheduled its big disaster movie "Twister" for release on May 17, but recently moved the date up to May 10 to avoid competing with Paramount Pictures' "Mission: Impossible," coming to theaters May 22. Both are special effects-laden pulse-pounders that are expected to hit big, with the production cost of "Twister" estimated at a whopping $74 million.

Most of the films expected to be the summer's blockbusters will be in theaters by June 21, a full month before the Olympics. The one notable exception is a Twentieth Century Fox movie that will be released on July 3 for a rather obvious reason: "Independence Day" is a science-fiction action flick whose plot hinges on the Fourth of July.

The movies to be released during the two-week course of the Olympics are mostly aimed at children. They include Paramount's "Very Brady Sequel" scheduled for July 19 and New Line Cinema's "Pinocchio" to hit screens July 26.

One film that might actually benefit from its positioning just before the Olympics is Walt Disney Co.'s "Kazaam," a children's movie featuring pro basketball star Shaquille O'Neal to be released July 17. Perhaps not coincidentally, O'Neal will be a focus of Olympics coverage as center for the U.S. basketball "Dream Team."

Disney animates a classic

The films that analysts expect to have the biggest impact on the box office this summer are led by another Disney film, the animated "Hunchback of Notre Dame." Disney's animated features have consistently performed at or near the top of the heap of the summer film market in recent years.

Hollywood analysts also expect big numbers from the Arnold Schwarzenegger film "Eraser," to be released by Warner Bros. on the same weekend as "Hunchback" (June 21). The Jim Carrey comedy "The Cable Guy," due for release by Columbia Pictures June 14, is another highly anticipated film, as is Hollywood Pictures' "The Rock" to hit screens June 7.

Despite Hollywood's concern that the Olympics could shorten the summer film season by two weeks, most analysts expect another strong year at the box office in 1996. Contributing to their optimism is the fact that box office tallies are already running 30 percent ahead of last year, providing a comfortable cushion going into the summer.

"There's a concern every year we have the Olympics, but the effect is very difficult to quantify," said Senior Vice President Tom Borys with Beverly Hills-based Entertainment Data Inc. "There's a question mark for the second half of the summer, that's all."