Hollywood ‘92: A Happy Ending? : Possible Oscar Contenders Just Around the Corner

A few good men are coming to the nation’s movie theaters this fall and Christmas: Charlie Chaplin, Jimmy Hoffa, Count Dracula, Aladdin, Malcolm X and Kevin McCallister.

Kevin who?

Kevin, the “Home Alone” kid, played by Macaulay Culkin. He’s coming back to theaters Nov. 20, in “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York”--and the not-surprising consensus of a variety of industry sources and theater operators is that the sequel will be a runaway hit.

But “Home Alone 2” is only one of about 60 movies--of which an unusually small number feature leading women characters--coming to a theater near you between now and the end of the year.

Hollywood’s fall season begins with “Sneakers” (Sept. 9), a high-tech caper with Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier and Dan Aykroyd; “The Last of the Mohicans” (Sept. 25) with Daniel Day-Lewis, and “Mr. Saturday Night” (Sept. 25) with Billy Crystal. They will be followed by “Hero” (Oct. 2) starring Dustin Hoffman, Geena Davis and Andy Garcia.

The parade of movies continues through the Thanksgiving-to-Christmas finale, when some of the year’s most prestigious (read Oscar) and commercial contenders are unveiled.

Sources in the movie business who were surveyed generally believe the upcoming season has a strong lineup of stars and stories. One movie alone, “Used People” (Dec. 25), features best actress Oscar winners Shirley MacLaine, Jessica Tandy and Kathy Bates, not to mention Marcello Mastroianni.

“I could name 23 movies this fall and Christmas that will hit big,” said an upbeat Howard Lichtman, executive vice president of the 1,600-screen Cineplex Odeon chain. He’s especially counting on “Home Alone 2,” the Tom Cruise drama “A Few Good Men” and “Used People.”

According to the insiders, there likely will be several more major hits than that. It’s a prospect that bodes well for the film industry after enduring a flat summer. The business is about to begin the year’s last quarter with box-office grosses for 1992 that are nearly even with what they were a year ago.

“Last fall was a disaster, but last Christmas turned out to be terrific,” said A. Alan Friedberg, the chairman of the multi-state Loews Theaters circuit. “As of now, I’d have to say this fall and Christmas look to be considerably better.”

Oscar Talk

The reason you’ll be seeing the big stars and stories at this time of year is because the studios save their most ambitious projects for the season when Hollywood’s thoughts start turning to the Academy Awards.

So far, only “Howards End,” the classy romantic movie by director James Ivory that debuted last spring, and Clint Eastwood’s Western drama ‘Unforgiven” are seen as Oscar contenders.

Of the new crop, the most widely mentioned best picture Oscar candidates are Columbia Pictures’ “A Few Good Men” and 20th Century Fox’s “Hoffa,” both scheduled to open Dec. 11.

“A Few Good Men” is a drama focusing on a military trial and has a cast that includes Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore and Kevin Bacon. Rob Reiner directs the Castle Rock Entertainment production for Columbia Pictures.

“Hoffa” is the biography of controversial Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, played by Nicholson. Danny DeVito directs from the David Mamet screenplay.

Some surveyed mention “Malcolm X” (Nov. 20), director Spike Lee’s biographical film about the late Black Nationalist leader. Oscar winner Denzel Washington plays the title role. But Oscar talk is tempered by commercial anxieties based on reports of apprehension among theater exhibitors about the controversial subject matter, and about Lee’s well-reported sparring with Warner Bros.

Veteran motion picture exhibitor James Edwards Sr., the owner and founder of the Orange County-based Edwards Cinemas chain, has “mixed emotions” about “Malcolm X.” “I think it will do a ton of business, but I don’t know if it will be a problem for exhibitors. I don’t like the idea of playing a picture when you have to hire an army for protection.”

A possible Oscar sleeper is Columbia’s “Hero,” a comedy about an unlikely hero (Dustin Hoffman) who performs a heroic act, but who is overlooked while someone else gets all the glory. It’s directed by Stephen Frears (“Dangerous Liaisons,” “The Grifters”).

TriStar Pictures’ “Chaplin” (Dec. 25), a biography of Hollywood’s love/hate relationship with Charlie Chaplin, is also mentioned. Robert Downey Jr. has the title role and Richard Attenborough (“Gandhi”) directs.

Walt Disney Pictures hopes its new animated musical “Aladdin” (Nov. 18) will bring another best picture nomination for an animated film (last year’s nod to “Beauty and the Beast” was the first ever). Talk has started for what would be an unprecedented supporting actor nomination: the “vocal performance” by Robin Williams as the genie.

Other actors mentioned include: Jack Lemmon and Al Pacino in the adaptation of playwright David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” (Sept. 30); Pacino in “Scent of a Woman” (December); Gene Hackman in the current “Unforgiven”; Daniel Day-Lewis in “Mohicans”; Tim Robbins in his current political satire “Bob Roberts” and Washington in “Malcolm X.”

Some mention Mr. Oscar Host himself, Billy Crystal, for his role in Columbia’s “Mr. Saturday Night,” a drama about a comedian’s 50-year career.

Nick Nolte, nominated for 1991’s “The Prince of Tides,” and Susan Sarandon, nominated for last year’s “Thelma & Louise,” could both be nominees for Universal Pictures’ “Lorenzo’s Oil” (November), a true story and some say a sleeper hit. They play a married couple whose son is dying of a disease for which there is said to be no cure.

The best actress contenders are not yet as apparent as the actors. Besides Sarandon, there are the performances in “Used People,” and random talk about Emma Thompson who plays the elder free-sprited sister in “Howards End,” Catherine Deneuve for the upcoming French drama “Indochine” (Dec. 25), and Judy Davis for her neurotic wife in Woody Allen’s “Husbands and Wives” (Sept. 18).

The Money-Makers

“You can’t exclude any movie that stars Mel Gibson, or Tom Cruise, or Daniel Day-Lewis in skimpy animal skins,” said one publicist who was predicting hits. The references were to the stars of “Forever Young” (November), “A Few Good Men” and “The Last of the Mohicans,” respectively.

If you ask theater owner Edwards, “Aladdin” will do “exceptionally well” in the same way that “Beauty and the Beast” did over a long run. “I hear fine things about ‘A Few Good Men’ and ‘Distinguished Gentleman,’ which harks back to Eddie Murphy’s early kinds of hit movies,” Edwards said. In “The Distinguished Gentleman” (December), Murphy goes back to his smart-aleck turf, playing a con man who gets elected to Congress.

Edwards is also betting on Kevin Costner’s box-office appeal in the romantic thriller “The Bodyguard” (December), in which he tries to protect a singer played by pop star Whitney Houston.

Edwards, of course, is bullish on the Nov. 20 opening of “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.” In this assessment, he’s not alone.

“Home Alone 2” is the sequel to the November, 1990, original, when Macaulay Culkin tormented two bad guys (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) trying to break into his home. He, 20th Century Fox and producer-writer John Hughes ran all the way to the bank. The movie eventually sold a whopping $285 million in tickets.

In the new version, Culkin again meets up with Pesci and Stern after he loses his family at the airport and winds up alone in New York.

Fox Chairman Joe Roth said the film has tested “even better” than the first one, leading him to predict a very strong finish for Fox by the end of the year, which would be a reversal after a slow year for the studio.

The earlier mentioned “Sneakers,” according to industry buzz, appears to be a crowd-pleaser with its multi-star cast. The family-oriented, ice hockey-themed “Mighty Ducks” (Oct. 2), from Disney, is said to be testing well with kids.

We’ll Wait and See

Francis Ford Coppola’s “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (Nov. 13) from Columbia, draws the biggest question marks. The much-admired director’s recent track record is uneven and there are rumors emanating from test screenings that early cuts have been over-the-top gory. Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder and Anthony Hopkins star.

Then there is Fox’s “Toys” (Dec. 18), a movie even Fox executives say they haven’t seen. Yet speculation is rife about the project, which many are hard-put to describe. Robin Williams plays the owner of a magical toy-making plant that bares little resemblance to reality, and the comic/fantasy is directed by Oscar-winning Barry Levinson (“Rain Man”).

Woody Allen’s latest, “Husbands and Wives,” will play against a backdrop of his own real-life drama that has been plastered in the news lately. Exhibitors are expecting that all the publicity might draw a wider audience than Allen’s usual narrow band of fans.

Many know the John Steinbeck novel “Of Mice and Men,” but, as of now, few can visualize the MGM movie (Oct. 2) that stars John Malkovich in a script by Horton Foote.

The presence of director Ridley Scott (“Thelma & Louise”) and actors Gerard Depardieu, Sigourney Weaver and Armand Assante in “1492: Conquest of Paradise” (Oct. 9) bolsters expectations for the year’s second movie about Christopher Columbus. The first, “Christopher Columbus--The Discovery,” sank on arrival.

Some sources said they can see adult audience appeal for “Rich in Love” (Oct. 23), with Jill Clayburgh and Albert Finney.

After scoring in the popular comedy “Father of the Bride,” Steve Martin switches tracks this season and the result makes some exhibitors a little wary. The film is Paramount’s “Leap of Faith” (Dec. 18), a drama in which Martin plays a phony evangelist.

The Long Shots

Among the films that some suggest might break through the crowded field: Jean-Jacques Annaud’s steamy romance “The Lover,” set in French colonial Vietnam (Oct. 30); “Singles,” Cameron Crowe’s look at the young rock ‘n’ roll scene in Seattle, with Matt Dillon, Bridget Fonda and Campbell Scott (Sept. 18), and “A River Runs Through It,” from director Robert Redford, with Brad Pitt and Craig Scheffer (Oct. 9).

There also is scattered talk about: “Peter’s Friends” (Dec. 25), a comedy with Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, and “Night and the City” (Oct. 16), a drama of New York’s hustlers and strivers, with Robert De Niro and Jessica Lange.