A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : OFF-CENTERPIECE : You May Hear the Gnashing of Teeth Clear to Judgment Day : ‘Terminator 2’ and ‘The Naked Gun 2 1/2’ Could Be Real Killers

Seldom has a movie been as eagerly anticipated by audiences. But, within the movie industry, seldom has a movie loomed as forbiddingly as “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” the sequel to the 1984 hit starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

For any movie that opened before Memorial Day, and is currently selling few tickets, “Terminator 2” is potentially lethal: It will erase them from the theaters.

When the Tri-Star Pictures’ release opens Wednesday, it will gobble up about 2,200 movie screens across the nation. That comes on top of last Friday’s opening of Paramount Pictures’ “The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear” on 2,378 screens.

With close to 25,000 movie screens in the United States, these two anticipated blockbusters are eating up quite a chunk of the available theaters. Added to the already crowded field of summer movies, the situation--at least on the surface--looks intense.

Something’s gotta give.

“The competition for screens can be cruel,” says John Krier of the industry data service Exhibitor Relations. “Those movies grossing under $1,000 per screen are the ones most likely to end up losing.”

Such films as Warner Bros.’ “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” which is playing on 2,369 screens and earning about $7,500 per screen, or Columbia’s “City Slickers,” in 2,069 outlets and making about $5,000 per screen, are holding firm.

Ditto Disney’s “Rocketeer” in 1,616 sites or 20th Century Fox’s “Dying Young” in 1,552 locales. Both were averaging more than $5,500 per screen as of last week.

But, according to some theater exhibitors, Universal’s “Backdraft,” in 1,950 stations with about $2,300 per screen last week, and smaller grossing films like “Thelma & Louise” might be moved into smaller theaters in multiplex complexes, freeing the larger theaters for . . . the looming Terminator.

Among those most likely saying auf wiedersehen altogether in the next few days are the low-grossing “Hudson Hawk” (which originally opened on 2,000 screens and more recently has dropped to about 900), “Oscar,” “Drop Dead, Fred,” “Madonna: Truth or Dare,” “New Jack City,” “FX2” and “Only the Lonely.”

“The Memorial Day Weekend pictures were a vast disappointment,” says Michael Patrick, the chief executive officer of the 1,325-screen, Georgia-based Carmike Theaters, a national chain. “Most of the pre-Memorial Day movies need to be replaced,” he adds, due to sluggish business.

“ ‘City Slickers’ seemed to start the summer rolling and ‘Robin Hood’ set it on fire,” he says. “The next two weeks will generate unbelievable admissions for the industry. For ‘Terminator,’ we expect the biggest opening of the summer.”

Accordingly, Patrick says, more than half of Carmike’s screens will be taken by four films: “Terminator,” “Robin Hood,” “City Slickers” and “Naked Gun 2 1/2.”