‘Top Gun’ Prepares for Takeoff With Commercial on Board; Meanwhile, CBS-Fox’s ‘The Fly’ Is Waiting in the Wings

It’s almost secondary that Paramount has sold a record 1.9 million copies of its “Top Gun” videocassette to retailers and distributors, breaking the record of 1.4 million set four months ago by another Paramount home video, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.” “Top Gun’s” $26.95 price tag is also the lowest for the home-video debut of a major movie.

What’s been generating most of the attention for this cassette, which will be in the stores Wednesday, is its Diet Pepsi commercial--the first on a videocassette.

The one-minute ad, featuring young jet pilots zipping around the skies, is as unobtrusive as possible. But some fans will certainly find its intrusion into the formerly commercial-free sanctity of home video offensive, though it will probably take at least a few weeks for any negative effect on sales and rentals to surface.

“We don’t expect much negative response,” said Tim Clott, a Paramount senior vice president. “People can zap through the commercial if they don’t like it, just like they fast-forward through the disclaimers and trailers at the front end of other tapes. The bottom line is that this is a movie people want to see. It’s not likely that too many will ignore it because of a one-minute commercial.”

Paramount has been playing up the positive aspects of the commercial. According to Clott, it’s responsible for the price. “Part of the advertising is paid for by Pepsi,” he said. “We’re saving money on the campaign so we’re passing on some of that saving to the consumer.”

Another factor in favor of the commercial is its notoriety. Some people will want to see it just out of curiosity. So far it has only been shown on the Grammy telecast last week.

What about commercials being added to other cassettes?

“In the future you may see them on low-priced titles--big movies like this one--or special programs made just for home video that might require corporate sponsorship,” Clott said.

“If there aren’t any deals already completed, some will be shortly. Our phones have been ringing off the hooks with offers from advertisers who want to put commercials on our movies. Other companies are just waiting to see what the consumer response is to this one.”

UPCOMING MOVIES: “Aliens,” out last week, and “Top Gun” will be the dominant rentals this month. At the end of the month, however, they will be challenged by “The Fly,” CBS-Fox’s grisly shocker due March 26.

After being lured into a love story between a scientist (Jeff Goldblum) and a journalist (Geena Davis), you watch in horror as the scientist falls apart, piece by piece. Hard-core gore lovers flipped over this one.

One of the best-picture nominees at this year’s Academy Awards, CBS-Fox’s “A Room With a View,” also will be released March 26, four days before the Oscar ceremonies. In this humorous, romantic tale, a prissy heroine (Helena Bonham Carter) gets turned on in Florence, Italy, by two different men (Julian Sands and Daniel Day Lewis).

MGM-UA’s “Wetherby,” an underrated 1985 drama starring Vanessa Redgrave, will be out March 17. Karl-Lorimar’s “Nobody’s Fool,” starring Eric Roberts and Rosanna Arquette, is due March 27. Also out the month: “Stand By Me” (March 19) and “Soul Man” (March 30).

NEW RELEASES: Much of the foreign-film audience will be put off by Vista’s “Men . . .,” a West German comedy directed by Doris Dorrie, because it’s dubbed. But that may be a plus for the mass audience, which doesn’t like reading subtitles.

Those who think of German movies as stodgy and grim should give this one a chance. It’s like an old Hollywood screwball comedy. The plot concerns a playboy husband who goes undercover to become pals with his wife’s lover.

Karl-Lorimar’s “The Boy Who Could Fly,” about a relationship between a 14-year-old girl (Lucy Deakins) and a young dreamer (Jay Underwood) given to flights of fancy, is a somber family film which never found an audience in theaters. The fantasy element, critics contended, didn’t quite work.

Fanatical Madonna followers who like to see her in anything , won’t mind Vestron’s “Shangai Surprise,” which bombed at the box office. Critics uniformly trashed this romantic adventure, which is one of those movies that’s so bad it’s funny. This one nearly ruined the career of Madonna’s husband and co-star, Sean Penn.

Next week: “52 Pick-Up,” “She’s Gotta Have It” and “One Crazy Summer.”

CHARTS

(Compiled by Billboard magazine)

TOP VIDEOCASSETTES, RENTALS 1--”Back to School” (HBO/Cannon).

2--”The Karate Kid Part II” (RCA/Columbia).

3--”Running Scared” (MGM/UA).

4--”Extremities” (Paramount).

5--”Labyrinth” (Embassy).

TOP VIDEOCASSETTES, SALES 1--”Jane Fonda’s Low-Impact Aerobic Workout (Karl-Lorimar).

2--”Jane Fonda’s New Workout” (Karl-Lorimar).

3--”Sleeping Beauty” (Disney).

4--”Secrets of the Titanic” (Vestron).

5--”Callanetics” (MCA).