‘Willow’ No ‘Star Wars’ but No ‘Duck,’ Either

Executive producer George Lucas was in Spain readying Indiana Jones’ latest escapades when his big-buck, high-tech, fantasy epic “Willow” opened Friday.

Director Ron Howard spent the evening viewing his creation-- along with hundreds of surprised moviegoers at Loew’s Tower Theater on New York’s Upper East Side.

And MGM/UA Chief Executive Officer Lee Rich sat in his ninth-floor Beverly Hills office counting dollars. “It’s like waiting for election results,” he said.

Rich wouldn’t admit to any anxiety, even as the first reports from the East Coast trickled in on Friday. By early Saturday, he was claiming victory.

“Ah, it’s fantastic,” Rich said in a telephone interview from his home. “I’m just delighted.”

Despite a lukewarm--and in some cases openly hostile--critical reception, the first screenings of Lucas’ $35-million “Willow” attracted respectable crowds nationwide and around-the-block lines at some Los Angeles theaters. Moviegoers at more than 1,000 theaters across the country paid about $2.5 million to see the film Friday and $3.4 million on Saturday, according to sources. Total weekend receipts were expected to reach between $8 million and $9 million.

“Those numbers are good,” said one industry observer. “It’s not a blockbuster, but it’s not a ‘Howard the Duck’ either.” Lucas’ $35-million “Howard the Duck” was a box-office disaster.

“Willow” is the opening shot in a fierce competition for the summer movie-going dollar, and both MGM/UA and “Star Wars” creator Lucas have a lot riding on it. After his earlier involvement with two expensive flops--”Labyrinth” as well as “Howard the Duck”--Lucas could use a hit. MGM/UA put up about $20 million of the film’s $35 million in production costs. That price was steep by industry standards: Special effects like translucent fairies, two-headed dragons and 9-inch human creatures don’t come cheap.

Rich said the company already has locked up $15 million in various advances and guarantees. But the company is pouring many more millions--at least $6.6 million in the first 10 days alone--into marketing the film, according to company officials.

If Lucas was expecting a replay of the response to his acclaimed “Star Wars” series, when teen-age fans lined up with their sleeping bags days in advance of the sequels, he would have been disappointed with this weekend’s opening.

About 50 parents and their children were already in line two hours before the 11 a.m. show at Hollywood’s Mann’s Chinese Theater on Friday. There were still about 200 tickets left for the 1,400-seat theater’s first Friday-night show. The 8:30 p.m. show at Loew’s Tower East theater in New York on Friday night was just about sold out when Ron Howard arrived. But the 6 p.m. show was less than half full.

“The attendance is very poor, to tell you the truth,” complained theater manager Charles Imam. “Maybe the critics are affecting the turnout, and word of mouth will improve things.”

Negative reviews clearly took their toll on the early shows. In New York, where the Post called the film “standard stuff” and the New York Times described the movie’s “understandable weariness,” a man in a cab pulled up to the curb and motioned a theater manager over to the car, wanting to know if the movie was as bad as the reviews suggested. Finally bucked up by the manager’s assurances, he popped right into line.

But a spot check of Los Angeles-area theaters found that audience reaction to the film was overwhelmingly positive. At Westwood’s Mann’s Village Theater on Friday night, a sold-out crowd booed the evil Queen Bavmorda, laughed at the banter ing of the 9-inch “Brownies” and applauded the dwarf Willow’s final success at sorcery.

When it was all over, 7-year-old Josephine Shabtai, her brown eyes wide and glowing, looked as if she had fallen under the Lucas spell. “Fantastic,” was all the little girl could utter as her mother guided her past the popcorn stand and out of the theater.

MGM/UA is marketing “Willow” as a family film, and it was clearly a big hit among the PG crowd. “I liked the fantasy and all the unreal stuff,” said Brendan Klinger, 13, who saw “Willow” in Sherman Oaks on Friday night.

Added his friend, Blue Lieberman, 12: “It was like a game of dungeons and dragons. My friends would definitely like it. Even my girlfriend.”

In Lakewood, 10-year-old Kelly Harrison called it the “cutest movie I’ve seen in a long time.” Twelve-year-old Anne Marie Mays was so impressed with the special effects that she’ll urge her friends to see it. And 9-year-old Kary Watson decided that the film was “really cool. I liked it because it was frightening.”

With so few family films coming to theaters this summer, the film’s popularity among children is a bonus for its makers. But because children typically buy less-expensive tickets, it also means that MGM/UA will have to collect many more ticket receipts to cover the film’s steep production and mar keting costs.

Moreover, some theater owners worry that both adults and those blockbuster-producing teen-agers will be turned off by a fantasy story about a dwarf’s struggle against an evil queen.

Glen Dunks, 30, was growing reluctant to buy a ticket as he watched children pour into a Saturday matinee in New York. “I didn’t think it was a children’s movie. But seeing all the children go in, I don’t know . . .” he trailed off. Finally deciding that he liked George Lucas enough to chance it, Dunks said he’d try to sit in the balcony smoking section, far away from any restless kids.

In Hollywood, Dennis Adler, the father of an 8-year-old, liked the film but added that “It’s geared more to kids. The special effects are designed to enthrall a young mind.”

That kind of reaction is disconcerting to some theater owners. “The film is being accepted with families--grandmas, grandpas and children,” said Angelo Porchetta, vice president of Capitol Service Inc., which owns 25 screens in Milwaukee and Madison, Wis. “But so far it doesn’t seem to have much of a teen, dating interest. Regretfully, I think it is going to lack enough interest among older kids to be a big success.”

But many teens did like it. In Los Angeles, Lucas fan Scott Austin, 17, bought the book “Willow” several months ago and then persuaded a group of his friends to join him at the film’s opening Friday night in Westwood. Both he and his friends loved the film. “It was way better than ‘Star Wars,’ ” said Valerie Kurete, 17. “This seemed more realistic.”

Likewise, Tom Rose, 16, said he didn’t think reviewers gave the film a fair shake by saying it concentrated too much on special effects and not enough on the characters.

And “Willow” has something else going for it among the teen crowd--the scruffy but heroic Val Kilmer as Madmartigan, who gave what The Times’ Sheila Benson called a “fine, lusty performance.” Sixteen-year-old Sara Prator of Lakewood put it another way: “Val Kilmer was gorgeous.”

The real question now is whether “Willow” can maintain any of the momentum that it built by opening five days before two potential blockbusters: “Rambo III” and “Crocodile Dundee II.”

“That’s when we’ll see if ‘Willow’ has legs,” said one industry source.

Contributing to this story were Dennis McDougal and Sue Martin in Los Angeles and Bill Diamond in New York.