Hollywood to release no new films for summer

Press, 26 December 1986, Page 7

Hollywood to release no new films for summer

By

JOHN PINE of

Reuter (through NZPA) Los Angeles

A down-to-earth look at the Starship Enterprise, a Clint Eastwood action drama, some big-budget comedies and a smattering of “prestige” films dominate the Christmas crop of American movies.

But for the first time in recent memory three of Hollywood's seven main studios are not releasing any new pictures for the holiday run. Of more than a dozen new films being released, industry observers see only four of them attracting large audiences, primarily on the strength of their stars and cult-like followings. Paramount has already earned more than SUS27O million from its two hit shows — “Top Gun” and the Australian comedy “Crocodile Dundee” — and could be the big Christmas winner with “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” and “The Golden Child,” Eddie Murphy’s first film since “Beverly Hills Cop.”

Warner Bros has the two other big holiday offerings: “Heartbreak Ridge,” in which Eastwood plays a tough Marine sergeant leading troops ashore in Grenada,

and “Little Shop of Horrors,” a musical comedy about a man-eating plant. The Los Angeles Film Critics Circle ignored all but one of the holiday releases when it awarded its choices for the best films of the year. It gave "The Mission,” a Warner film that stars Jeremy Irons and Robert De Niro, its best cinematography award. Films released in time to be considered for Academy Award nominations include the Dino De Laurentis Entertainment Group’s "Crimes of the Heart,” starring Diane Keaton, Sissy Spacek and Jessica Lange, which opened to rave reviews. In the same category are “The Mission,” a gripping tale of Jesuit missionaries in the South American jungle, and Warner’s “The Mosquito Coast,” starring Harrison Ford in the adaptation of the Paul Theroux novel of the same name.

Last year it seemed everybody had a film out that they thought would be a hit, said one Wall Street analyst who follows the film industry’. This year you can count specifically how many potential winners there are. In fact there are four that the world seems to

be paying advance attention to — “Star Trek,” “Heartbreak Ridge,” “Golden Child” and “Little Shop of Horrors.” "Star Trek IV,” which brings Captain Kirk, Mr Spock and the rest of the original Enterprise crew from the twenty-third century to our own time, opened the day before Thanksgiving to glowing reviews and with legions of “trekkies” pre-sold on the film. It has already earned more than SUS3O million.

“The Golden Child,” starring the wise-cracking Murphy as a freelance social worker chosen to find a wide-eyed child who supposedly embodies spiritual perfection, opened recently to generally poor notices. But Murphy's presence, and his track record with such mega-hits as “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Trading Places” and “48 Hours,” brought the film more than SUSII million in ticket sales in its first three days. “Heartbreak Ridge,” which Eastwood also produced and directed, was panned by the Defence Department as giving a misleading and stereotypical view of the modernday Marine but Eastwood’s legion of fans have turned out in force to see it.

Eastwood portrays a profane, battle-scarred and violent master gunnery sergeant who whips a unit of misfit recruits into shape for the climactic scenes when they join United States forces in the invasion of Grenada in 1983.

“Little Shop of Horrors,” based on the longrunning off-Broadway show of the same name, opened recently. Excellent trade reviews and appearances by such popular comic actors as Steve Martin, John Candy and Jim Belushi make it one of the stronger entries of the season. Orion Pictures’ “Three Amigos,” a comedy starring Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short, got mixed reviews from the critics and is primarily aimed at a younger audience.

Columbia Pictures, Disney, and United Artists have no new films to offer before the end of the year.

Columbia pulled “Ishtar,” a comedy starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman that has cost about twice its original SUS2O million budget, from a scheduled December release because it was not ready. It is now set to open in May. Disney, which released the Paul Newman-Tom Cruise film “The Colour of Money” early to take advantage of a hot autumn market, dug into its valuable animated library’ to re-release “Lady and the Tramp” for the considerable family market. “ ‘Pinocchio’ broke alltime records two years ago and we topped that last year with ‘lOl Dalmatians’,” Disney spokesman Erwin Okun said in explaining the strategy. “It worked so well last Christmas, why not do it again?”