STILL WAITING : And to Think We Believed Them

Don’t hold your breath for the opening of “Billy Bathgate,” starring Dustin Hoffman, or “Mom and Dad Save the World” with Teri Garr and Jon Lovitz. Both were listed in both our January Sneaks issue and the summer movie preview, but there’s no telling when they may hit the theaters.

They are just two of the dozens of titles from Hollywood’s major studios that are in limbo at the moment. In each instance, there’s a different reason. It could be as simple as holding on to a film in order to release it at a time for optimum box-office results--in other words, when there aren’t similar films in the marketplace. Or it could mean that the movie, ahem, needs reshooting. Or something in between.

About 110 movies are scheduled to open between Labor Day and the end of 1991. But scheduled is the key word; Hollywood is quite agile when it comes to shuffling opening dates and jockeying for position.

As Calendar went to press for this fall movie preview issue, one major studio called three times in one day with schedule changes. Often, as in the case for Warner Bros.’ “Mom and Dad,” which was postponed from summer to fall and now to next year, there are no explanations. Studio executives are reluctant to talk on the record about their maneuvers, preferring to keep their options open.

In the case of “Billy Bathgate,” originally penciled in by Walt Disney Studios to open last June, then this fall, word is that additional shooting is necessary. That, however, couldn’t begin until Hoffman finished his role in Steven Spielberg’s “Hook”--which has wrapped. But Disney is still waiting for Hoffman, and the movie is unscheduled.

Then there’s the story of Columbia Pictures’ “Radio Flyer,” a story of child abuse with no major stars in the cast. Originally set for summer, it was pushed back to fall and now, according to the studio, it will come out in February. The delay gives the studio time to initiate a word-of-mouth marketing campaign. But it also allows the filmmakers to conduct research screenings, which it has been doing, featuring various endings--some with an appearance at the end by narrator Tom Hanks, and some sans Hanks.

Among other titles being held for release are Warners’ animated “Rover Dangerfield” (which opened in some markets, but not L.A.); Orion Pictures’ “Love Field,” starring Michelle Pfeiffer; Warner Bros.’ “Freejack,” with Mick Jagger and Emilio Estevez; Universal’s “Beethoven,” with Charles Grodin; Universal’s “Welcome to Buzzsaw,” with Mathew Broderick, and the Disney musical “Newsies.”