Wednesday, April 19, 2000
The University Daily Kansan
Section B Page 7
Sequels and remakes to fill movie screens this summer
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — A big, cheesy reptile. Another impossible mission. That nutty professor. Mutant X-men. The return of John Shaft. A new invisible man. Fred and Wilma and Barney and Betty. Rocky and Bullwinkle and Boris and Natasha.
Eyes on the prize means eyes on the past for Hollywood this summer, with a movie slate heavy on sequels, big-screen adaptations of small-screen icons, and films based on comics or best-selling books.
Unlike last summer, the industry enters its busy season with no single film dominating.
The lineup of derivatives includes Tom Cruise's Mission; Impossible 2; Eddie Murphy in Nutty Professor II: The Klumps; The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, a second live-action version of Bedrock's loudest neighbors; The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, combining live actors with the animated moose and squirrel; Hollow Man, a new twist on H.G. Wells' Invisible Man premise; X-men, a live-action take on the comic-book phenomenon; and Samuel L. Jackson in an updated Shaft.
Richard Roundtree reprises his role as John Shaft, the tough, independent private detective from the 1970s movies series. But the action centers on Jackson as his nephew, also named John Shaft.
"It is kind of passing the baton on," Roundtree said. "Sam's got an innate rawness that obviously works for the character. He can be cold-blooded but has this innate charm, as well."
Jackson's hitman comrade from *Pulp Fiction*, John Travolta, stars in *Battlefield Earth*, a sci-fi epic based on L. Ron Hubbard's novel about humans who revolt against alien conquerors in the year 3000.
And there's God's zilla 2000,
thankfully not a sequel to the
overblown spectacle from 1998
that turned Japan's favorite
monster into an irradiated igua-
na on steroids. This one's more a
throwback to the beloved, guy-ina-lizard-suit movies from the 1950s and '60s.
Hollywood typically gains nearly 40 percent of its revenue between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day. Buoyed by a stream of hits last summer, including the surprise blockbusters The Sixth Sense and The Blair Witch Project, the industry took in $3 billion for the season, a record in dollars unadjusted for inflation.
In terms of early hype, *X-men* and *Mission: Impossible 2* are perhaps a notch above the pack. Cruise's first update of the spy classic in 1996 overcame a puzzling plot and unusual twist — turning the TV series' main man, Jim Phelps, into a villain, then killing him off — to gross $465 million worldwide.
With action master John Woo directing, Ving Rhames returning and Anthony Hopkins appearing as Cruise's boss, Mission: Impossible 2 has "can't miss at the box office" written all over it.
Paramount opens the movie for the long Memorial Day weekend, and other studios generally are keeping out of Cruise's wake. Disney, though, plans some counter-programming, moving Jackie Chan's latest action movie, Shanghai Noon, from later-summer release to the same weekend.
20th Century Fox's X-men features Star Trek's Patrick Stewart as the telepathic leader of mutants who use their powers for humanity's benefit. Other mutants, including Ian McKellen's Magneto, are not so benign.
McKellen, an Oscar nominee for Gods and Monsters, said Magneto obviously differed in style from other roles such as his lead in Richard III, but that Xmen owed a great deal to Shakespearean storytelling.
"Magneto is often called one of the great comic strip villains, though he doesn't think of himself as a villain," McKellen said. "He's reminiscent of the complicated feelings you find in someone like MacBeth as he pursues his ends."
OTHER SUMMER FLICKS
CHICKEN RUN The animated adventure fea-
tures the voices of Mel Gibson, Miranda
Richardson and Jane Horrocks as hens who
hatch an escape from a poultry farm.
TIAN A.E.: Another animated feature, with Matt Damon, Drew Banymore and Bill Pulman among the voice cast. A teen searches for a legendary spaceship to save humanity.
ME, MYSELF AND IRENE: Jim Carney reunites with the Farellly brothers (Dumb & Dumber) as a cop with a dual personality, both of which fail for the same woman.
GONE IN SIXTY SECONDS: Reuniting are Nicolas Cage and producer Jerry Bruckheimer (The Rock) in the story of a master car theft unwellly forced out of retirement.
**NUTTY PROFESSOR II:** THE KLUMPS: Edie Murphy returns as the邱 Sherman Klump, who uses the latest in DNA research to rid him of his self-admitted alienation. Burdy Love.
**HOLLOW MAN:** in another science experiment gone wrong. Kevin Bacon updates the invisible man scenario, with remarkable special effects to show the actor vintaging from skin to bones.
WHAT LIES BENEATH: Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer star in a thriller about a college professor trying to unravel the mystery of a murdered student who appears to his wife
science class, the dead guy who befriended the kid in the Sixth Sense, meets his own 8-year-old self in this comic fantasy.
POKEMON: THE MOVIE 2000: Sage to last year! An animated boy becomes a world-renowned tango dancer known as 'laughing monsters'
**LOSEER:** Jason Biggs and Mena Suki of last summer's hit American Pie re-train for a camper van.
NUMBERS: John Travota stars as a cash-umpired TV weatherman who compares with the station's lotto-ball lady (Lisa Kudrow) to fix the state lottery drawing.
THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE: Robert Redford directs Will Smith as a mysterious caddy who imparts golf and life wisdom. Matt Dawson co-stars.
SPACE COBWBYS: Clint Eastwood's latest directing effort, about retired fighters pilots recruited to help in a satellite crisis. Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Garnet and Daniel Sutherland star.
GIRLFIGHT: Michelle Rodriguez stars in a *Rock-esque drama* about a teen who bucks tradition and enters the boxing ring. The gritty tale, based on top prize at January's Sundance Film Festival.
THE REPLACEMENT: As a warmup to the football season, Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman lead gridiron subs who step on the field when the regular players go on strike.
**IMPOSTOR:** Based on a story by sci-fi master Philip K. Dick, the movie stars Gary Sinise and Madeleine Stowe in a tale of a scientist suspected of being an alien intruder.
BAIT: Jamie Foxx in the story of a petty criminal, jailed for stealing prawns, who is freed to help track a master gold thief.
THE CREW: Richard Dreyfuss and Burt Reynolds lead a gang of retired mobsters in a scheme to avoid eviction from their seedy Florida retirement home.
FREE! Watkins Health Center Runner's Clinic for KU students, faculty, and staff
Wednesday, April 19, 1:00-4:00 pm Watkins Health Center, south entrance To register. call 864-9592 Appointments preferred.
Wear your shorts and usual running shoes for a free evaluation' of problems experienced by running, walking and aerobic exercise. This clinic will be staffed by physicians and physical therapists. (Aerobic stress test not included)
There is a charge for supplies, if needed.
(Incloment weather site: Physical Therapy Department 2nd floor)
Registered Student Organizations
A minimum of one workstation will be available in the Student Organizations and Leadership Development Center for the 2000-2001-year.
Applications are at SUA, O&L, and in 133 Strong Hall. Applications are due by noon on Friday, April 21, 2000.
Questions: Bill Nelson, O&L Center, 864-4861 Jane Tuttle, Dean of Students Office, 864-4060
YOU SAVE MORE, IT'S BEEN RENTED BEFORE