A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : KNIGHT AND DAY : Poor King Arthur, No Points

What’s next, “The Sword and the Skateboard”? The hottest hero in Hollywood this season appears to be King Arthur. At least 10 studio projects are being developed around Arthur and his knights of the Round Table.

“I think it’s everybody’s fantasy to be a king and there’s a tremendous interest in King Arthur,” says former Hollywood Pictures executive Andrew Z. Davis, explaining His Majesty’s sudden popularity. Davis is developing “Nick of Time,” a comedy action-adventure story about a Las Vegas stand-up comic who gets transported back to the court of Camelot.

Merlin’s celebrated protege is certainly no stranger to Hollywood--among them, John Boorman’s eccentric 1981 “Excalibur”; the expensive 1967 flop “Camelot”; Walt Disney’s 1963 animated “The Sword in the Stone,” and two versions of Mark Twain’s “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”: one with Will Rogers (1931) and the other with Bing Crosby (1949).

Most agree that a lot of the current Hollywood interest in the subject was spawned by the success of last year’s “‘Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.” “At that point,” says Davis, “everybody realized that a big-budget action-adventure period piece was commercially viable.”

Like “Nick of Time” another project in development that includes time travel is “Crystal Tower.” Written by Tom Holland (“Child’s Play”), it’s the story of a teen-ager who’s transported back to Arthur’s court.

Jerry and David Zucker also have an Arthurian story in the works at Columbia. “First Knight” is the legend of Camelot, but from the point of view of Sir Lancelot. Jerry Zucker (“Ghost”) insists that the film, written by Lorne Cameron and David Hoselton, won’t be a spoof.

Another is “The Forever King,” for which producer Arnold Kopelson (“Platoon”) and his wife and partner, Anne Kopelson, reportedly shelled out nearly $750,000 for book rights. Unlike the other period films, “The Forever King” is a modern-day story set in Chicago. Its two heroes are a 10-year-old boy who is the reincarnated Arthur and an ex-FBI agent. Written by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy, the book will be published by St. Martin’s Press in June.