TRIVIAL PURSUITS--Director Joe Dante packs his movies...

TRIVIAL PURSUITS--Director Joe Dante packs his movies (“The Howling,” “Gremlins”) with fond nods to other film makers. In “Explorers,” the $24-million science fiction-fantasy filming at Paramount, some references will be especially obscure: A school bus emblazoned with the name Davanna County School System is a homage to “Not of This Earth,” Roger Corman’s 1957 film about an advance scout from the planet Davanna.

There are lots of references to George Pal and his 1953 film “War of the Worlds,” too. They won’t be hard to spot, since the film is incorporating clips from the classic.