HOLLYWOOD PUMPS UP THE VOLUME : MORE PICTURES, BIGGER BUDGETS ON 1997'S PLATE.Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Writer We have all seen this before. In the movies of last year, in the movies of the last 20 years, in movies a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Reissues, sequels and ongoing trends dominate the 1997 film release slate. Kicking off with the return of a digitally spruced-up ``Star Wars'' trilogy, continuing through the summer appearance of ``Jurassic Park,'' ``Batman,'' ``Speed,'' ``Home Alone'' and ``Alien'' sequels, and threatening us with at least one major disaster, space invasion Space Invasion is a management-type, text-based, space-strategy themed online browser game with over 130,000 players. Space Invasion was created and maintained by Bigpoint,[1] As of September 22nd or outrageous sexual provocation per month, the studios look more determined than ever to give us what they know - or at least hope - we want. And lots of it, too. Despite the oft-heard executive's cry that there are too many movies and production must be cut, you'll notice that the following release list is more crowded than ever. ``They keep talking about cutting back; each studio wishes the other ones would do it,'' John Krier, president of the box office analysis outfit Exhibitor Relations, noted wryly. Meanwhile, the tendency to spend more and more money on potential blockbusters continues to grow. At least $100 million was spent to ensure that ``Dante's Peak'' would be the year's first volcano movie (yes, there are two). A similar amount will probably go into making ``Starship Troopers'' the bee's knees of bugs-from-outer-space movies. And move over ``Waterworld'' (or, for that matter, director James Cameron's earlier, overbudget undersea epic, ``The Abyss''); it's predicted that, by the time it's done, more bucks may be sunk into Cameron's ``Titanic'' than any movie before it. We've seen this kind of thing before, too. ``It's true budgets are out of line, but that's nothing new,'' observed Exhibitor Relations' Krier. ``It's a rule of thumb that big-budget event films have always been a good investment. Of course, when they flop, they make a bigger noise. But, basically, the big-budget pictures have done big business.'' ``We're probably going to see the first $6 billion year at the box office'' in 1997, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. David Davis David Davis, the name of several people, may refer to:
Perhaps the most extreme example of market glut this year are the sets of twin pictures that cover the same specific subject. Besides the pair of volcano movies rumbling our way, there will be two biofilms about the late Olympics runner Steve Prefontaine Steve Roland Prefontaine (January 25, 1951 – May 30, 1975) (nicknamed Pre) was an American Olympic runner who inspired a running boom in the 1970s along with contemporaries Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers. . And two features that concern the early life of the Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (dä`lī lä`mə) [Tibetan,=oceanic teacher], title of the leader of Tibetan Buddhism. Believed like his predecessors to be the incarnation of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, 1935–, , Martin Scorsese's ``Kundun'' and ``Seven Years in Tibet'' starring Brad Pitt, are scheduled for the fall. (For future reference, you might like to know that no less than three big production outfits are currently developing comet-strikes-Earth projects.) There are even two big star vehicles with satanic titles that have reportedly been bedeviled by ego clashes and costly delays. ``Devil's Advocate'' is a more fanciful riff on ``The Firm,'' in which young legal dynamo Keanu Reeves finds himself working for an infernal Al Pacino. ``The Devil's Own'' is a New York-set thriller involving a cop and an Irish terrorist, starring Pitt and Harrison Ford. Ford also figures in a big '97 movie trend that may remind you of every newscast you've seen since the dawn of the Clinton administration Noun 1. Clinton administration - the executive under President Clinton executive - persons who administer the law : presidents in trouble. He plays the chief executive in the hijacking hijacking Crime of seizing possession or control of a vehicle from another by force or threat of force. Although by the late 20th century hijacking most frequently involved the seizure of an airplane and its forcible diversion to destinations chosen by the air pirates, when thriller ``Air Force One,'' while Clint Eastwood and Gene Hackman clash on the Potomac in ``Absolute Power.'' Add to those ``Shadow Conspiracy,'' ``Murder at 1600,'' ``Executive Power'' and, if it gets made in time, ``Primary Colors those developed from the solar beam by the prism, viz., red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, which are reduced by some authors to three, - red, green, and violet-blue. These three are sometimes called fundamental colors. See under Color. See also: Color Primary .'' For a change of pace, Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beaty (born March 30, 1937) is an Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winning American actor, producer, screenwriter and director, known as Warren Beatty. Biography Early life and Education plays a U.S. senator who gets shot at in the tentatively titled ``Bullworth.'' If you're not in the mood for such realism, you'll be glad to know that, like they did unsuccessfully a few years back, the studios are once again going for animated features in a big way. The only established master at this game, Disney, has a new, comic ``Hercules'' coming out and is reissuing the film that revived the genre, ``The Little Mermaid little mermaid the sacrifices her own life to save her beloved prince. [Dan. Lit.: Andersen’s Fairy Tales] See : Self-Sacrifice .'' But look also for ``Cats Don't Dance'' and ``The Quest for Verb 1. quest for - go in search of or hunt for; "pursue a hobby" quest after, go after, pursue look for, search, seek - try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; "The police are searching for clues"; "They are searching for the Camelot'' from Warners and the first release from Fox's new animation studio Animation studio can refer to:
Sounds like terrific entertainment for the kiddies, at least compared to some of the ultra R-rated items on tap for next year. The two Davids of depravity, Lynch and Cronenberg, are back to stir up controversy with, respectively, the surreally steamy ``Lost Highway'' and ``Crash,'' a censor's thrill about car-wreck fetishism fetishism, in psychiatry, a paraphilia (see perversion, sexual) in which erotic interest and satisfaction are centered on an inanimate object or a specific, nongenital part of the anatomy. Generally occurring in males, fetishism frequently centers on a garment (e.g. . You'll also be ogling, or cringing at, such titles as ``One Night'' (formerly ``One Night Stand,'' a Joe ``Showgirls'' Eszterhas concept scripted and directed by ``Leaving Las Vegas' '' Mike Figgis), ``Boogie Nights,'' ``Female Perversions,'' ``Kama Sutra Kamasutram, generally known to the Western world as Kama Sutra, is an ancient Indian text widely considered to be the standard work on love in Sanskrit literature. This is authored by Mallanaga Vatsyayana. A portion of the work deals with human sexual behavior. ,'' ``Cousin Bette Cousin Bette deprived of her lover by Baron Hulot, she eventually manages to ruin the family. [Fr. Lit.: Balzac Cousin Bette in Magill I, 166] See : Vengeance ,'' ``Angel Baby,'' ``Bliss,'' ``johns,'' ``Kissed'' and, if any studio is brave enough to release it, Adrian Lyne's remake of the pedophiliac ped·o·phil·i·a n. The act or fantasy on the part of an adult of engaging in sexual activity with a child or children. ped classic, ``Lolita.'' Hey, Larry Flynt spent lots of money for your right to see these movies. If you'd rather just hear someone talk about it, you'll have Howard Stern starring in his autobiographical ``Private Parts private parts n. men or women's genitalia, excluding a woman's breasts, usually referred to in prosecutions for "indecent exposure" or production and/or sale of pornography. .'' Speaking of the world's end, last year's disaster-movie trend continues unabated with ``The Flood'' and the aforementioned ``Titanic,'' ``The Lost World: Jurassic Park,'' ``Dante's Peak'' and ``Volcano.'' And for those who couldn't get enough of ``Executive Decision'' last year, a squadron of airborne threats is winging our way, including the just-released ``Turbulence,'' ``Con Air'' and that ``Air Force One.'' Threats from higher up will come in the sci-fi stories ``Men in Black,'' ``Deep Rising,'' ``Event Horizon,'' ``Starship Troopers,'' a new Power Rangers movie, ``Alien Resurrection,'' an ``X-Files'' movie, Carl Sagan's ``Contact,'' Michael Crichton's ``Sphere'' and that returning ``Star Wars'' trilogy. Which brings us full circle, back to the immediate future's prospects. ``The copycat movies tend not to do as well as the originals they're based on,'' analyst Davis warned. ``It's more likely that an unheralded film will be the $200 million grosser this year, rather than a copy of `Twister' or `Independence Day.' '' That is, if those original movies get a chance to see the light of day. In perhaps the most telling trend of 1997, a number of new or proposed pictures by great directors known for their distinctive vision have not been scheduled for release yet. That means you may or may not have seen the latest from Stanley Kubrick (``Eyes Wide Shut''), Oliver Stone (as yet untitled), James L. Brooks (``Old Friends''), Francis Ford Coppola Noun 1. Francis Ford Coppola - United States filmmaker (born in 1939) Coppola (``The Rainmaker''), Mike Nichols (``Primary Colors'') and Barry Levinson (``Wag the Dog'') by this time next year. CAPTION(S): 5 Photos Photo: (1--Cover--Color) MORE ALIENS, MORE SEX, BIGGER DISASTERS THE '97 FILM PREVIEW Jon Gerung/Daily News (2--Color) Jennifer Lopez as ``Selena.'' (3--5--Color) Above, Ruben Blades, Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt in ``The Devil's Own''; at left, Jodie Foster in ``Contact''; below, in a new scene from ``Star Wars Special Edition,'' Imperial Storm Troopers ride giant beasts of burden. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion