The Other Half of Summer : A New Wave of Issue-Oriented, Offbeat Movies Are Ready to Roll Into Theaters

Now that the summer’s high-profile, major-studio movies have been released--most to lesser enthusiasm than expected--the industry is eyeing the “smaller” remaining films with new optimism. Nearly two dozen movies will be released between Friday and Labor Day, many of them from independent distributors who have patiently waited for the faster horses to lose some speed.

So, along with heavily promoted titles like Tri-Star Pictures’ “Air America,” starring Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jr., and much-anticipated projects like Paramount Pictures’ Jack Nicholson-directed “Chinatown” sequel, “The Two Jakes,” moviegoers can look forward to a range of issue-oriented or offbeat films.

“There’s always room for quality and that idiosyncratic film,” said Sandra Ruch, marketing president of New Line Cinema. Home of the surprise spring hit, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” New Line will be releasing “Pump Up the Volume,” a story about a high school loner (Christian Slater) whose underground radio show becomes the focus of a small-town crisis, and “Metropolitan,” a story of Angst among New York preppies.

“You do the best you can to carve out your own niche,” explained Ron Wanless, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for the Samuel Goldwyn Co., which will attempt to carve out its niche with Cannes Film Festival Gold Palm winner “Wild at Heart,” which is expected to get a big boost from the success of director David Lynch’s offbeat TV soap, “Twin Peaks.”

“Wild at Heart,” which stars Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern as young lovers on the run, will be launched Aug. 17 with a strong $7-million to $8-million marketing campaign. TV spots will be heavy, said Wanless. “And yes, we will take some time during ‘Twin Peaks.’ We’re very confident in the film.”

In touting “After Dark, My Sweet,” Avenue Pictures’ chairman and chief executive officer Cary Brokaw says, “After an overabundance of action movies, we think we have a smart, different, bold sort of movie--a sexy thriller for thinking people, if you will.”

Based on the novel by Jim Thompson, whose murky writings are undergoing a rediscovery, the film is directed by James Foley (“At Close Range”) and stars Jason Patric, Rachel Ward and Bruce Dern as three odd people brought together by a kidnaping scheme.

According to Brokaw, Avenue will spend close to $3 million to launch the film “in its first couple of waves.” Pointing to research studies that have shown the film has slightly more female than male appeal--an important element in a summer that’s been largely dominated by male-oriented movies--Brokaw admitted, “In a slight way, we’re kicking ourselves for not opening the picture a little earlier. If we’d have known what was going to happen this summer . . . “

In recent years, the smaller companies have come up lucky with late summer entries.

“Teen Wolf” (1985) became one of Atlantic Releasing’s top-grossing titles, with domestic ticket sales of $33 million. “Dirty Dancing” grossed $63.4 million for Vestron Pictures in 1987. In 1988, “Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master,” grossed $49.3 million for New Line.

Last year, while “Batman” and other hits were rewriting the box-office record books, Miramax scored a coup with “sex, lies, and videotape,” which was last year’s big winner at Cannes. Filmed for $1.2 million, “sex, lies, and videotape” went on to gross $25 million.

“And we only spent $2.5 million on prints and advertising,” said co-chairman Harvey Weinstein, adding, “What do you think? Isn’t that better than spending $60 million to make a movie, and another $30 million on prints and advertising, and then grossing $120 million?”

“The Unbelievable Truth” is another low-budget film that Miramax hopes will do strong late-summer business. The film, made in 11 days on a budget of $200,000, is playing exclusively in New York right now where, according to Weinstein, it grossed “one-fifth of its budget” during its opening weekend. Miramax, which has had remarkable success recently marketing such specialty films as “Cinema Paradiso,” “The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover” and “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!” is releasing “The Unbelievable Truth” with a campaign underscoring its underdog status.

A recent trade ad for the film, which is about the relationship between a fatalistic small-town woman and the ex-con who returns to face his past, trumpeted: “This summer the seven major studios have spent over $700,000 on film negatives. In order to compete, Miramax is unleashing an Unbelievable secret weapon . . . negative cost $200,000.”

The smaller companies can afford to do some crowing, considering that the majority of the big studio’s big guns didn’t perform as anticipated. Currently stalled at the box office: Paramount’s “Another 48 HRS.” ($76.7 million in ticket sales) and “Days of Thunder” ($69.3 million) and Orion Pictures’ “RoboCop 2” ($40.7 million).

In the meantime, a handful of titles that were considered alternatives to the slam-bang school of filmmaking are making headlines--especially Paramount’s surprise sleeper, the romantic fantasy “Ghost” ($51 million in 17 days), as well as Warner Bros.’ recently released courtroom thriller, “Presumed Innocent” ($11.7 million during its opening weekend) and the Walt Disney Studio’s spider thriller “Arachnophobia” ($23.8 million after 12 days).

All of which gives credence to hopes that Hollywood may yet come up with a Happy Ending to the brutally competitive summer--with movies that weren’t originally considered to be strong enough to survive the shoot-out.

“The idea is not to get caught in the cross fire,” said Tom Sherak, president of marketing and distribution for 20th Century Fox, which released “Young Guns II” on Wednesday, and has “Exorcist III: Legion” upcoming. As Sherak points out, the original “Young Guns” defied the current odds facing the Western genre to gross nearly $45 million when it was released in the summer of 1988.

Now, Fox is banking on the film’s cast of “recognizable young stars,” led by Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips, as well as the first film’s success--including on videocassette (300,000 cassettes were shipped)--to rope moviegoers. As an added plus, the sequel is rated PG-13--making it more “accessible” than its R-rated predecessor.

In contrast, to promote “Exorcist III” Fox and the production company, Morgan Creek, won’t be reminding moviegoers of the 1977 title, “Exorcist II: The Heretic,” which remains one of Hollywood’s most notorious clinkers. “Oh, was there a ‘II,’? deadpanned Sherak, who goes on to stress that William Peter Blatty, who authored the original “Exorcist” and wrote and directed the latest sequel, “had nothing at all to do with ‘II.’ ”

Ironically, while the 1974 “Chinatown” remains one of Hollywood’s most revered films, Paramount must market “The Two Jakes” largely as if it isn’t a sequel. As Barry London, Paramount’s motion group president in charge of distribution notes, “Its predecessor was so many years ago that it’s hard to equate this movie as a sequel in the marketplace. It has to stand on its own two feet.”

To reach the action crowd for the Chuck Norris sequel, “Delta Force 2,” MGM/UA is planning a saturation TV campaign that could cost “as much as $5 million,” said marketing chief Barry Lorrie, who adds candidly, “I don’t think what the critics think is going to make any difference.”

Executives at Warner Bros. are hoping that their Steve Martin-Rick Moranis comedy, “My Blue Heaven,” will find the kind of audience waiting a year ago for late summer comedies “Parenthood” and “Uncle Buck,” two Universal releases that grossed more than $160 million between them.

“With an August release, you can count on two to three weeks of solid summer business--and then, if the movie’s good, you can go into the fall,” said Robert Friedman, Warners’ president of worldwide advertising and publicity.

Warners also has an art-house entry on the way, “Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams.” Friedman said the film will open in two or three cities, then roll out. “And if the gods are with us, (it) will hopefully still be playing in September or October.”

Other summer hopes are being pinned on the children’s movie “The Witches” (Warner Bros.), the sci-fi thrillers “Darkman” (Universal) and “Flatliners” (Columbia), comedies “Taking Care of Business” (Hollywood Pictures) and “Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael” (Paramount) and Spike Lee’s “Mo’ Better Blues” (Universal).