HIGH HOPES

Films starting production this week. EIGHTY FOUR, CHARING CROSS ROAD (Brooksfilms). Shooting in London and NYC. Helene Hanff’s best-selling biographical novel about the 20-year mailbox relationship between a NYC antique book collector and a London bookseller. Exec. producer Mel Brooks. Producer Geoffrey Helman. Director David Jones. Screenwriter Hugh Whitmore. Stars Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. Distributor undetermined. Late ’86 release.

ANGEL HEART (Carolco Production Service). Shooting in NYC and New Orleans. Drama, based on William Hjortsberg’s novel “Falling Angel,” ranging from Harlem to the back streets of New Orleans. Producers Alan Marshall and Elliot Kastner. Director/screenwriter Alan Parker. Stars Mickey Rourke and yet-to-be-revealed “megastar.” Distributor undetermined. Spring ’87 release.

NUMBER ONE WITH A BULLET (Cannon). Shooting in L.A. Two detectives escort a key witness to a trial of organized crime figures when the witness disappears and the two lose their jobs--but pursue the kidnapers anyhow. Exec. producer/screenwriter Gail Morgan Hickman. Producers Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus. Director Jack Smight. Stars Robert Carradine, Billy Dee Williams, Valerie Bertinelli, Peter Graves. Release date undetermined.

KING KONG LIVES (De Laurentiis Productions). Shooting in Tennessee and N.C. Life after death exists only in theory--except when there’s a potential for big box-office. The oft-offed Kong returns in the continuing saga of the most powerful primate. Producer Martha Schumacher. Director John Guillermin. Screenwriter Ronald Shusett. Stars Brian Kerwin. Christmas release.

THE WIND (Omega Pictures). Shooting in European locations. Psychological thriller about a writer who witnesses a murder and later finds herself stalked by the perpetrator of this foul deed. Exec. Producer Isabel Mastorakis. Producer/director Nico Mastorakis. Screenwriters Nico Mastorakis, Fred C. Perry, Kirk Ellis. Stars Meg Foster, Wings Hauser, Robert Morley, Steve Railsback. Distributor and release date undetermined.

THE LAMP (H.I.T. Films) Shooting in L.A. and Texas. Horror-fantasy follows a magical lamp--and the evil genie who resides within--from its discovery in the late 19th Century to present. Exec. Producer Fred Kuehnert and M. N. Sanousi. Producer/screenwriter Warren H. Chaney. Director Tom Daley. Stars Deborah Winters and James Huston. Distributor undetermined. Halloween release.