Monday, June 29, 1998
Movie studios wage war for summer dollars
FILMS: Hollywood’s top season has biggest names scrambling to
lure audiences to theaters
By Lonnie Harris
Daily Bruin Staff
Even though Godzilla has already stomped his way through
Manhattan, and everybody knows the contents of the X-Files, the
summer movie season is far from over.
In previous years, the studios would normally target their
blockbuster films for June release, but intense competition has
caused them to seek out big opening weekends in July and even
August.
Some of the most popular summer movies, including "Independence
Day," "Men In Black," and "The Fugitive" were released in either
July or August, and 1998 is no exception.
Hitting screens July 4, "Armageddon" has all the makings of a
huge, box-office hit. Though the premise (a huge piece of space
debris hurtles toward Earth, and only a team of astronauts armed
with drills and explosives can stop it) was used in May’s surprise
smash "Deep Impact," Buena Vista hopes that their film will attract
the action-seeking crowd. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has a history
of summer action spectacles, with credits including "Top Gun," "Con
Air" and "The Rock."
Coming the following week (July 10) is Dreamworks SKG’s "Small
Soldiers," which follows a group of artificially intelligent action
figures which wage a battle on the streets of suburbia. The warring
action figures, whose leader is voiced by Tommy Lee Jones, are
computer-generated creations from Industrial Light and Magic, the
movie world’s premiere effects studio, known for their work on
"Star Wars" and "Jurassic Park." "Soldiers" director Joe Dante is
no stranger to films about small creatures menacing a suburban
town: he previously directed "Gremlins."
Also on July 10, the newest edition of the popular "Lethal
Weapon" series opens. Rounding out an already full cast (which
includes Mel Gibson, Danny Glover and Joe Pesci) is Chris Rock as a
wisecracking cop (is there any other kind?) and Hong Kong action
star Jet Li. Richard Donner once again helms this installment, the
fourth in the series, hoping the combination of comedy and action
will once again score with a summer audience.
The first big comedy of July, "There’s Something About Mary," is
the new project from the "Kings of Gross-out Humor," the Farelley
Brothers. The Farelleys, whose previous works include "Dumb and
Dumber" and "Kingpin," crafted this story about a geeky high-school
kid (Ben Stiller) with a crush on the most popular girl in school
(Cameron Diaz). When the kid grows up to be a success, he hires a
private detective (Matt Dillon) to seek out his lost love. Despite
the film’s romantic-comedy premise, look for plenty of bathroom
humor and outrageous slapstick.
An alternative to the summer’s modern action films arrives on
July 17 with the Steven Spielberg-produced "The Mask of Zorro."
This film, which features Anthony Hopkins as an aging Zorro
training Antonio Banderas as his replacement, fashions itself as a
throwback to the old-fashioned swashbuckling films of Errol Flynn
and Douglas Fairbanks. Whether a savvy modern audience will swallow
classic Hollywood style remains to be seen.
Spielberg, it seems, will be competing with his own film. His
war epic, "Saving Private Ryan," opens just one week after "Zorro."
"Saving Private Ryan," from Spielberg’s Dreamworks studio, is the
true story of a troop in World War II assigned to rescue the one
surviving son of a family who has already lost three to the war.
Tom Hanks portrays the leader of this bunch, which also includes
Tom Sizemore and Ed Burns (known more as director of "Brothers
McMullen" than as an actor).
A more conventional action film, "The Negotiator," opens July
31. Kevin Spacey and Samuel L. Jackson portray dueling hostage
negotiators who team up once Jackson is framed for a series of
crimes. The film was directed by F. Gary Gray, a long-time hip-hop
music video director.
In a very different vein than "The Negotiator" comes its
competition on July 31, Universal’s "Baseketball." David Zucker,
one of the creators of "Airplane!" and "Top Secret," directs the
infamous creators of Comedy Central’s "South Park" in a madcap
spoof of professional athletics. Look for appearances by Jenny
McCarthy and Yasmeen Bleeth amidst the collection of zany sight
gags and verbal sparring.
The trend of remaking TV shows into films has given the world
successes like "The Fugitive" – as well as failures, like "The
Beverly Hillbillies." The genre’s newest attempt is "The Avengers,"
opening Aug. 4 and based on a 1960s adventure series. In the new
film, Emma Peel (Uma Thurman) and John Steed (Ralph Fiennes) are
chasing after a supervillian (Sean Connery) bent on controlling the
world’s weather. The main attraction of the television series, the
innuendo-heavy relationship between the two heroes, has inevitably
survived in the big screen version.
Finally, Brian De Palma’s "Snake Eyes" slinks into theaters Aug.
7. The film opens as the Secretary of Defense has been murdered in
a crowded boxing arena in Atlantic City. Cops Nicholas Cage and
Gary Sinise lock the doors to the arena and refuse to let anyone
leave until they have solved the mystery, which eventually leads
them to a massive conspiracy. De Palma, who has long aspired to be
the new Alfred Hitchcock, will get his chance with this intense
thriller.
These films are only a sample of the dozens of titles making
their way to theaters this fall. Horror fans may also look forward
to "Disturbing Behavior" and "H20," and those with an inclination
towards the dramatic may choose "Polish Wedding" or "Ever After."
Studios, whether they are successful or not, certainly attempt to
bring something for every potential film viewer during this, the
industry’s most profitable season.
Multi-Oscar winner Tom Hanks plays John Miller in "Saving
Private Ryan."
Photos courtesy of Dream Works Pictures
Antonio Banderas plays Zorro in "The Mask of Zorro."