<i> Films going into production: </i>

After Dark My Sweet (Avenue). Shooting in Indiana. Rachel Ward is an alcoholic barfly type and Jason Patric her co-conspirator in a plot to kidnap a millionaire’s son. Producer Ric Kidney. Director James Foley. Screenwriter Bob Redlin.

Desperate Hours (FTC). Shooting in Utah and Colorado. “Year of the Dragon” director Michael Cimino and star Mickey Rourke again pair in this contemporary drama and remake of the 1950s Bogie flick. Anthony Hopkins, Mimi Rogers, Lindsay Crouse and Kelly Lynch also appear in this tale of a group of convicts who terrorize a suburban family. Executive producer Martha Schumacher. Producers Cimino and Dino De Laurentiis. Screenwriters Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal and Cimino. Distributor Warner Bros. (domestic), FTC (foreign).

Flatliners (Stonebridge). Shooting in L.A. and Chicago. Kiefer Sutherland and sultry Julia Roberts top-line this drama of five Harvard med school thrill-seekers who dare one another to momentarily stop their heartbeats in order to peer into the afterlife. Executive producers Scott Rudin, Mike Rachmil and Peter Filardi. Producers Michael Douglas and Rick Bieber. Director Joel Schumacher. Screenwriter Filardi. Also stars Billy Baldwin and Oliver Platt. Distributor Columbia. Summer release.

The Grifters (Grifters). Shooting in L.A. Stephen Frears directs this modern-day film noir starring John Cusack, Anjelica Huston and Annette Bening. Cusack’s a con artist whose mother (Huston) ardently tries to make him go straight while girlfriend Bening eggs him on to keep grifting. Executive producer Barbara De Fina. Producers Martin Scorsese, Robert Harris and James Painten. Screenwriter Donald Westlake.

Highway to Hell (Hemdale). Shooting in Arizona. Chad Lowe and Kristy Swanson are on a leisurely trip from San Diego to Las Vegas when she’s suddenly abducted by a deranged cop. It’s all Lowe can do to retrieve her from his clutches. Executive producers John Daly and Derek Gibson. Producers Johnathan Byers and Marianne Page. Director Ate de Jong. Screenwriter Brian Helgeland. Stars Chad Lowe, Kristy Swanson and Patrick Bergen.

Popcorn (Movie Partners/Century), Shooting in Kingston, Jamaica. A devious director of horror films plans an elaborate murder of his wife and daughter during a premiere and utilizes the gruesome footage to complete one of his films. Jump forward 20 years to a horror film fest in that very theater where a systematic slaughtering is about to take place. Executive producers Howard Hurst, Howard Baldwin and Karl Hendrickson. Producers Torben Johnke, Gary Goch and Ashok Armritraj. Director/screenwriter Alan Ormsby. Stars Tony Roberts, Ray Walston, Tom Villard, Amy O’Neill, Dee Wallace Stone and Derek Rydell.

Wrong Bet (Wrong Bet). Shooting in L.A. Action adventure concerning a man who finds himself involved in unsanctioned street boxing in order to save his family. Executive producer Sunil R. Shah. Producers Ash R. Shah and Eric Karson. Director/screenwriter Sheldon Lettich. Stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, Deborah Rennard, Harrison Page and Lisa Pelikan.