A Magical Gala for ‘Hook’

The Scene: The immense party Sunday at Sony Studios after the world premiere of Tristar’s “Hook.” It was a gala as monumental as the movie itself. No other studio is throwing parties like this. It’s as though the last of the Hollywood showmen are all at Sony.

The Locale: The party was held in a tent the size of a football field set on a parking lot across from the studio’s Thalberg Building. The interior, done by Entertainment Lighting Services, was an ornate, Spielbergian pirate world. Inside the entrance sat a galleon run aground in 20 tons of sand and a 10,000-gallon pool of water. Mist filled the air. Ship’s rigging hung from the roof. At the far end, off in the mist, the massive Hook-eating crocodile loomed like an icon. There was enough food from caterer Along Came Mary to feed a pirate navy--leg of lamb, roast turkey, grilled sausage, pizza. A reggae band played at the entryway and one guest said “Never-Never Land must be in the Caribbean.”

Who Was There: The film’s stars, Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman and Julia Roberts; director Steven Spielberg; studio execs Mike Medavoy, Peter Guber and Mark Canton; among the 2,000 guests alone or en famille were Sean Connery, Kevin Costner, Billy Crystal, Sally Field, Jeff Bridges, Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Danny DeVito, George Lucas, Mike Ovitz, Richard Pryor, and Don Johnson with wife Melanie Griffith.

The Buzz: Hollywood expects “Hook” to be the messiah that leads it out of the financial doldrums. There was much prayer.

Money Matters: The event benefited London’s Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital (to whom author J. M. Barrie left all the rights to “Peter Pan” in 1929) and the Peter Pan Children’s Fund. Tickets were $100 for children and $200 for adults. With Sony underwriting the cost of the party, more than $225,000 was netted.

Message Matters: On the film’s theme, that parents should spend more time with their children, Hoffman commented, “Those first 12 years pass kind of quickly in terms of your own children. Then they’re kind of closing their door. So don’t blow that. The day after we saw it, my 8-year-old said to my wife and I--after we were going out after breakfast and then had to go out after dinner--and she says ‘You’re going out again? Hook was right.’ ”