A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : DEJA VU AGAIN : The Artistic Triumphs Are So Great This Summer, They’re Talking Sequels

With so many movie sequels at the box office this summer, what can we expect in the way of . . . sequels to sequels?

With Warner Bros.’ “Batman Returns” already setting records at the box office, most Hollywood observers agree the Bat will be back, quite possibly with Catwoman. The big question, however, is whether director Tim Burton will return for another installment--most speculate he won’t. (The rumor making the rounds that a third “Batman” installment was filmed while “Batman Returns” was being shot--like “Back to the Future 2 and 3”--is unfounded, sources say.)

As for Warners’ other hit, “Lethal Weapon 3,”, an insider at Silver Pictures says “it’s still quite a ways off” but “they’re talking about it. We’d love to do another.” Much will ride on the availability of the film’s stars--Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci and new-to-the-series Renee Russo. “There’s a very good possibility that her character will be back,” said the insider. “She’s obviously very popular.”

While 20th Century Fox’s “Alien 3” has not performed as well as its predecessors, Fox is nevertheless thinking about a fourth installment, although Sigourney Weaver has said publicly she won’t be back. “We do have ideas for a sequel,” admits Roger Birnbaum, Fox’s president of worldwide production. “‘It’s a little too soon, but it is a good possibility.”

According to Birnbaum, one of the sequel ideas being kicked around is an “Alien vs. Predator” film, based on the successful Dark Horse comic book of the same name, which has sold over 400,000 copies. “At the present time, with Arnold Schwarzenegger out of the ‘Predator’ series and Sigourney Weaver out of ‘Alien,’ it might be a very worthwhile notion to explore doing one of those old-fashioned type of great science-fiction pictures,” he says.

Hollywood Pictures’ “Encino Man” has sequel written all over it; late in the movie, a new character is introduced--the thawed-out cavewoman-mate of the Encino Man himself. “We’ve set it up as a continuing movie adventure,” says Hollywood Pictures President Ricardo Mestres.

According to the film’s director, Les Mayfield, the story will indeed revolve around the “cave nug.” “It’s based on the girlfriend and her experiences in the present-day world,” he says. “We have the story ready and we could definitely do one.” Mayfield admits, however, it will be a while before the sequel rolls. “It’s not a fast-track thing right now,” he says. “To put everyone together for the first movie was difficult enough; to try to do it again for a sequel will be a little harder.”

Touchstone Pictures’ sleeper hit “Sister Act” may also be headed for sequel treatment. “We’re thinking about it,” admits Touchstone President David Hoberman. “If we come up with a good idea and a good story that we think is worthwhile, we’ll do it. I don’t believe in forcing these things.” Of course, one wonders if Whoopi Goldberg could be persuaded to do another installment, considering her widely reported unhappiness with the studio while she was making the movie.

And audiences can expect to see Harrison Ford, Anne Archer and Thora Birch (who plays their daughter) in a follow-up to Paramount’s “Patriot Games,” which is a sequel of sorts to “The Hunt for Red October,” both based on novels by Tom Clancy. The third installment will be “Clear and Present Danger,” again based on a Clancy novel, this time a story about Colombia’s drug cartel.

The first draft of the “Clear and Present Danger” script was written by John Milius, but producer Robert Rehme says a second draft is currently being written by Donald Stewart, who wrote the “Hunt for Red October” and “Patriot Games” scripts. The film will probably start production early in 1993 for a Christmas release. Rehme says that after “Clear and Present Danger,” the next film in the series may be Clancy’s latest novel, “The Sum of All Fears,” again to star Ford.