Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 76

PAGE F6 STAR TRIBUNE SUNDAY, JUNE 29 1997 A. t' Holy blockbuster, Batman! Recent 'big movies' stink urn i 1 A A A. A. I I WOMEN WHO GOPLACES G0T07 'ACtfefratisnofomtninjCusic mum ixwciflCMifl mm nivrTn ST CATHE 1 mm mnmma mr Lower Fall Tuition Choose from 1 1 majors Management Information Systems PT1 Health Information Management E3 Small BusinessEntrepreneurship Call 690-8671 WEEKEND COLLEGE ATST.CATHERINE Tin- dlLxv til St. CuIk'NIH' lJh nut tliM.nmin.iU- ti the Kims it ulnr, it mu.il id ethnic otiuin, iclium, iiyt in iKihhty in or mploymriii- TlCFSCT On Jftii 6sn fU'jtflY 10 bi i lt ill seals J' jlsal! stall Titfttm- v' If 61 131.

i "Con Air," which was no masterpiece but delivered a more consistent action entertainment than "Lost World" (and with tiny glints of originality), dropped about 35 percent in its follow-up weekend. The blockbuster season got an unusually early start this year with "Dante's Peak" and "Volca- no," which might have been held for summer release in previous years. The result was dismal. Of the year's top 10 movies to date "The Lost World," "Liar Liar," "Jerry Maguire," "Star Wars." "Ransom," "101 Dalmatians," "Scream." "Michael," "Star Trek: First Contact" and "Space Jam" only one is a summer film. And the success of "The Lost World" has less to do with the merits of the film itself than with the reputation of "Jurassic Park" and a marketing campaign that Entertainment Weekly termed an "assault as meticulously orchestrated as the invasion of Normandy." Better times ahead? There may be hope on the horizon.

On Friday, "Hercules," the new Disney cartoon brought to you by the creators of "Aladdin" and "The Little Mermaid," opened; it's expected to bring a snappy, happy end to the dolorous era of "Pocahontas" and the sophisticated but hardly bell-ringing "Hunchback of Notre Dame." And hopes are sky-high that "Men in Black," a spoofy alien-invasion blockbuster wannabe with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, will capture some of the box-office magic of "Independence Day" beginning Wednesday. Jodie Foster might add a touch of class to the blockbuster season in the more ambitious alien-themed Carl Sagan tale "Contact," set to open July 1 1. Harrison Fordcould prove to be every inch a president (aboard a plane hijacked by evil Gary Oldman) in "Air Force One," due to land July 25, and Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts could redouble the star power of each in "Conspiracy Theory" on Aug. 8. But even if we do see an actual, no-baloney blockbuster this season, the big studios' terrible self-destructive trend continues.

In their desperate attempt to shape public response to films before they are made, movie moguls throw more and more money at worse and worse scripts, ever more cravenly striving to reduce the creative impulse to simpler and simpler formulas. What one would wish for all the studios is greater fiscal wisdom and humility, a higher regard for the hearts and minds of moviegoers and more faith in the diversity of audience interest. Sometimes, by trying to treat moviegoers as if they were suckers, a mogul can wind up being the biggest sucker of all. Q00D SEATS 1 3' tkmr-i- 77 77 if 1 1 'UUP lit- WfiiiitWfb fin i it cotain mm mr mm: FOR AVAILABLE i) First Bank Theater Season It'li -Ilk 1 1 By Tim Appelo Newhouse News Service By now, you have no doubt heard the bad news: "Batman Robin" is rotten. "Spectacularly boring!" said Newsday.

"One conclusion is clear," opined the Washington Post. "It's time to discontinue the 'Batman' line." But "Batman Robin" is no isolated catastrophe. Movies as a whole are running out of creative steam, thanks to the industry's mad addiction to ever-bigger blockbusters with ever-shrinking aesthetic ambition. The summer's blockbusters have ranged from disappointment to disaster, and all of Hollywood is howling in pain. The total box-office take in what is supposed to be the big summer season is down about 20 percent from last year.

Consumers are in revolt, because so many of the movies are revolting. The $110 million "Batman Robin" brought in a respectable $42.9 million on its opening weekend, but that figure ranked third among the four "Batman" movies and was a severe disappointment to Warner Bros. The previous week's blockbuster "Speed 2," the $150 million Sandra Bullock snooze-a-thon, earned a pathetic $16 million its first weekend and dropped to fifth place on the box-office list in its second weekend. The first "Speed" cost about $35 million and earned $121 million, because it was entertaining. Moguls hoped the $75 million "Con Air," which is, at least, more entertaining than "Speed 2" or "Batman Robin," would be another Nicolas Cage action cash machine, like "The Rock." Alas, its opening gross fell $25 million short of its predecessor even though the studio plastered "Con Air" on 432 more screens than "The Rock" occupied.

"Con Air" earned about $49 million in two weeks only about $3 million more than the cumulative take of the teensy (and artistically superior) $16 million Mike Myers comedy "Austin Powers," at almost five times the production cost. Diminishing returns Even "The Lost World," which was force-fed to viewers on 6,000 screens and set a record with its $90 million opening weekend, lost a shocking 62 percent of its first-weekend audience the second weekend when word got out about how disappointing it is, except for a few great-looking scenes and nonpareil scary sequences. By contrast, its predecessor, "Jurassic Park," which showed respect for viewers' tastes instead of the contempt for storytelling expressed by the "Lost World" marketing juggernaut, lost a mere 21 percent of its audience on the second weekend. GIDDY ON UP TO Living History Village of the 1 800s for the OLD WEST EXTRAVAGANZA Friday through. Sunday, July 4-6 Hours are 10 a.m.

to 5 p.m. Admission prices: adults, students seniors, children 5 under, bet. Located 2 miles west of Valleyfair ca Highway 101 in Shakopee. For more information, call 445-6300. Presented by tie Old West Society Sponsored by: No Name Steaks" iWMti TREATSEAIY Qj- HISTORIC MURPHY'S LHHDIKG i yti Si i NOV THRU AUGUST 17 ONLY ordway 224-1428 groups 282-3111 ticks tma3ter 989-5151 wi.

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