Sneaks ’93 : Spring

After “The Silence of the Lambs” in 1991 and “Wayne’s World” and “Basic Instinct” last year, we’ve come to expect a spring box-office success. What’s most likely to open big? In “Indecent Proposal,” Robert Redford tries to tempt Demi Moore from Wood Harrelson. Bridget Fonda has the “La Femme Nikita” look down for director John Badham’s remake. Sylvester Stallone has left light comedy behind--”Cliffhanger” is the first of his two action adventures this year. Will the heat “Rising Sun” generated as a novel transfer to the Sean Connery-Wesley Snipes movie?

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The Adventures of Huck Finn. Elijah Wood and Courtney B. Vance play Huck and big Jim in this remake of the Mark Twain classic. Stephen Sommers adapts and directs. (Buena Vista)

American Cyborg. Boaz Davidson directs a futuristic fight to save humanity. Joe Lara stars. (Cannon)

American Friends. Monty Python alum Michael Palin co-writes and stars in a project based on his great-granddad, a middle-aged bachelor whose life turned about during a romantic--yet frustrating--trip to Switzerland. Trini Alvarado and Connie Booth also star for director Tristram Powell. (Castle Hill)

Benny and Joon. A comedy about a free spirit (Mary Stuart Masterson) and the more reliable car mechanic brother (Aidan Quinn) she lives with. He considers having her committed--then Johnny Depp’s oddball character comes into the fray. Jeremiah Chechik directs. (MGM)

Beyond Innocence. Don Johnson stands accused of shoving his rich wife out the window, and Rebecca DeMornay plays the attorney who--at first--feels he couldn’t have done such a nasty thing. From Sidney Lumet. (Buena Vista)

Bodies, Rest & Motion. Director Michael Steinberg brings us this comedy of manners, charting a single weekend in the lives of two men and two women who are approaching the end of their 20s. Phoebe Cates, Bridget Fonda, Tim Roth and Eric Stoltz make up the quartet. (Fine Line)

Body Shot. Robert Patrick and Michelle Johnson in a film noir thriller that focuses on a free-lance photographer who exposes a lot of film on a certain rock star. Dimitri Logothetis directs. (U.S. distribution pending/Capella Films handles foreign.)

Body Snatchers. Abel Ferrara (“‘Bad Lieutenant”) directs this remake of the 1956 sci-fi classic. With Gabrielle Anwar, Meg Tilly and Forest Whitaker. (Warner Bros.)

Born Yesterday. A remake of Garson Kanin’s 1950 classic with John Goodman in the Broderick Crawford role of the rough-hewn millionaire who hires journalist Don Johnson (William Holden was a professor in the original) to give his girlfriend, a former Las Vegas showgirl--Melanie Griffith in the Judy Holliday part--some class. Luis Mandoki directs. (Buena Vista)

Calendar Girl. In 1962, three friends set out for Hollywood from their small Nevada town with one thing on their minds: to meet Marilyn Monroe. Jason Priestley stars, John Whitesell directs, Penny Marshall executive produces. (Columbia)

CB4. That’s short for Cell Block 4, the new prison home of a notorious character called Gusto. “SNL’s” Chris Rock has co-written and stars. Tamra Davis directs. (Universal)

Cliffhanger. Sylvester Stallone is an expert mountaineer who puts his skills to the test when an airplane crash-lands in the Rockies. Complicating the rescue is a criminal gang led by John Lithgow that has taken the survivors hostage. Renny Harlin directs. (TriStar)

Cop and a Half. Burt Reynolds plays a burned-out detective who must work with an 8-year-old to solve a crime. Norman D. Golden II plays the boy, a key witness who will only play ball if he gets to be a cop for a day. Henry Winkler directs the family comedy. (Universal)

The Crush. Cary Elwes and Jennifer Rubin star in a thriller about a teen-age girl’s dangerous infatuation with the cute young fellow staying in her parents’ guest house. Alan Shapiro writes and directs. (Warner Bros.)

Dazed and Confused. Richard Linklater follows up “Slacker” with this look at the last day of school in 1976 in suburban Austin, Tex., where a group of teens gets wasted, listens to Led Zeppelin and searches for a good party spot. Jason London, Michelle Burke star. (Gramercy)

Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story. Jason Scott Lee (not a relation) stars in this bio-pic illustrating the meteoric rise--and fall--of the most talked about of all martial artists. Lauren Holly and Robert Wagner co-star for director Rob Cohen. (Universal)

Equinox. Matthew Modine plays identical twins separated at birth. One twin is a reclusive car mechanic, the other an underworld player. A struggling writer stumbles on the origins of their birth. Lara Flynn Boyle co-stars for director Alan Rudolph. (I.R.S.)

Extreme Justice. Scott Glenn and Lou Diamond Phillips headline the story of a secret section of the L.A. Police Department whose objective is to remove criminals from the streets--dead or alive. Mark Lester directs. (Trimark)

Fire in the Sky. When five Arizona loggers witness the temporary abduction of one of their own by a UFO, the townspeople angrily accuse them of staging a hoax. D.B. Sweeney and “T2’s” Robert Patrick star for director Robert Lieberman. Mel Torme’s son, Tracy, wrote the screenplay. (Paramount)

Friday the 13th: Jason Goes to Hell. Series originator Sean S. Cunningham returns to produce the next segment of this nearly annual slash fest. Kane Hodder stars as Jason for director Adam Marcus. (New Line)

Good Cop, Bad Cop. Aaron Norris directs brother Chuck again, this time with Chuck as a tough street cop who travels to Jerusalem to solve a brutal murder. (Cannon)

Hear No Evil. Marlee Matlin becomes a target for terror. D.B. Sweeney and Martin Sheen co-star for director Robert Greenwald. (Fox)

Household Saints. Tracey Ullman stars in this peek into three generations of an Italian-American family. Ullman’s Ma is the superstitious, religious type; her daughter yearns to become a saint. Vincent D’Onofrio also stars for director Nancy Savoca. (Fine Line)

Hyenas. Based on Friedrich Durrenmatt’s play, “The Visit,” which is set in an impoverished village of the West Africa country of Senegal. Villagers excitedly await a hometown woman who’s accumulated a vast fortune, but they have no idea that one of them must pay dearly for all to benefit from her wealth. (Triton)

Indecent Proposal. Robert Redford, Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson team up with “Fatal Attraction” director Adrian Lyne. Redford plays a charismatic financier who offers the happily married Moore and Harrelson a cool million if she will spend just one night with him. Amy Holden Jones and William Goldman adapt Jack Engelhard’s novel. (Paramount)

Indian Summer. Mike Binder’s ensemble affair of four men and three women, all in their 30s, who head back to their childhood getaway, Camp Tamakwa, for a reunion. Alan Arkin, Matt Craven, Diane Lane, Bill Paxton, Elizabeth Perkins and Kevin Pollak head the cast. (Buena Vista)

Jack the Bear. Danny DeVito plays a widower who attains minor celebrity as the host of a late-night TV horror show, and his kids are just thrilled. Marshall Herskovitz directs. (Fox)

Jail Bait. C. Thomas Howell is Sgt. Lee Teffler. He is young, and he possesses a strong stomach. A 17-year-old runaway becomes his unlikely assistant in a homicide case. Rafal Zielinski directs. (Skouras)

Jersey Girl. A contemporary romantic comedy that takes a modern look at the traditional “girl-meets-boy” situation. David Burton Morris directs; cast includes Jami Gertz, Dylan McDermott and Sheryl Lee, with Joseph Bologna playing the concerned father. (Triumph)

Joey Breaker. Joey’s a sizzling new agent at one of New York’s most influential agencies. Lucrative deals loom with a promising NYU grad and an ascending comic. But when Joey agrees to care for a man dying of AIDS, his life takes on new significance. Richard Edson stars; Steven Starr writes/directs. (Skouras)

Josh and S.A.M.. The acronym is for “Strategically Altered Mutant,” and that’s what 12-year-old Josh has persuaded his younger brother Sam he is. The boys use this fantasy on a cross-country odyssey that whisks them from the unhappiness of their home. Billy Weber directs. (Columbia)

Love Your Mama. The Chicago ghetto is the backdrop for this story of a compassionate woman whose husband drinks and philanders and whose son rips off cars when he should be studying. Audrey Morgan stars for director/writer Ruby L. Oliver. (Hemdale)

Mad Dog and Glory. When the facetiously named Mad Dog (Robert De Niro) accidentally saves the life of local mobster Frank Milo (Bill Murray), Milo gives him Glory (Uma Thurman) for one week. John McNaughton directs from the Richard Price script. Barbara De Fina and Martin Scorsese produce. (Universal)

Map of the Human Heart. Jason Scott Lee stars in this study of a young Eskimo who falls for a mixed-raced woman who’s not allowed to return his love. We meet the two as children and travel with them through several decades. Anne Parillaud and Patrick Bergin also star for director Vincent Ward. (Miramax)

Menace to Society. 21-year-old twins Allen and Albert Hughes make their directing bow with this urban tale of a fatherless boy who grapples with the dearth of viable choices available in the inner city. Tyrin Turner and Vonte Sweet star; cameos by Charles Dutton, Samuel L. Jackson and Bill Duke. (New Line)

The Meteor Man. Robert Townsend, writes, directs and stars as an unassuming teacher who becomes the reluctant title character upon being struck by a magical, emerald meteorite. Sure, he can fly, but he finds out that the greatest power comes from within. The cast includes Bill Cosby, Marla Gibbs, Frank Gorshin, Robert Guillaume, Sinbad and Luther Vandross. (MGM)

Mr. Jones. Lena Olin is a shrink who tries to avoid falling in love with disturbed patient Richard Gere and discovers that mixing business and pleasure has dangerous results. Anne Bancroft co-stars; Mike Figgis directs. (TriStar)

Mojo Flats. Christina Applegate is from Beverly Hills, Elizabeth Pena from the barrio, but they both wind up in Godforsaken Mojo Flats when their boyfriends are shuffled off to prison. Michael McKean, Burgess Meredith and James Remar co-star. (Hemdale)

Money Men. U.S. Treasury agent Wesley Snipes trails two counterfeiters who have brutally murdered his partner. Dennis Hopper, Viggo Mortenson, Lolita Davidovich and Valerie Perrine co-star for writer/director James Harris. (Warner Bros.)

The Music of Chance. Mandy Patinkin is a fellow who inherits a little cash and hits the road. James Spader is a down-an-out gambler who persuades him to stake his cash against a couple of millionaires who don’t know anything about poker. Or do they? Philip Haas directs. (I.R.S.)

The Night We Never Met. New Yorkers’ never-ending quest for romance and affordable housing provide the subject for humorist Warren Leight, who wrote and directed. Matthew Broderick, Annabella Sciorra and Kevin Anderson star. (Miramax)

The Pickle. Danny Aiello is filmmaker Harry Stone, who attempts to offset a series of flops by directing a youthful science-fiction movie about a flying . . . pickle. Paul Mazursky writes/directs; Dyan Cannon co-stars. (Columbia)

Point of No Return. Bridget Fonda stars for director John Badham in this remake of the French thriller, “La Femme Nikita.” Fonda plays a young murderess who gets a reprieve from Death Row to become a high-level assassin, then has a crisis of conscience. Gabriel Byrne, Anne Bancroft and Harvey Keitel star as well. (Warner Bros.)

Posse. Sy Richardson and Dario Scardapane wrote and Mario Van Peebles directs and stars in the story of black soldiers who fought in the Spanish-American War and founded a peaceful community on the American frontier--near a not-so-peaceful white community. (Gramercy)

Praying With Anger. M. Knight Shyamalan has written, produced and directed this coming-of-age story about an American-born Indian who is sent to India on a student exchange and must deal with the customs of his parents’ homeland. (Northern Arts)

Rescue Me. Michael Dudikoff and Stephen Dorff star in the romantic action-adventure of a studious 17-year-old who witnesses the kidnaping of a beautiful girl and enlists the help of a warmhearted smuggler to save her. Arthur Allan Seidelman directs. (Cannon)

Rich in Love. Albert Finney is the increasingly depressed patriarch of the Odom family, which is turned upside down when his wife suddenly leaves to start “a second life.” Finney and Jill Clayburgh star for director Bruce Beresford. (MGM)

Rising Sun. In Michael Crichton’s other bestseller, detectives Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes investigate the murder of a young woman found in the offices of a large Japanese corporation. Their work is encumbered by adversarial attitudes between the United States and Japan. Harvey Keitel, Kevin Anderson and Tia Carrere also star for director Philip Kaufman. (Fox)

Ruby Cairo. Andie McDowell is an L.A. housewife who tries to get to the bottom of her husband’s mysterious death in a Mexico plane crash. While in Egypt, she meets charismatic doctor Liam Neeson, who has some secrets to tell. Graeme Clifford directs. (Miramax)

The Sandlot. “Radio Flyer” writer and original director David Mickey Evans co-writes and directs a comedy that pits some kids who play baseball against a mystery beyond the right field wall. With Karen Allen and James Earl Jones. (Fox)

The Secret Garden. The classic children’s tale of the lonely orphan girl who’s taken in by her uncle, who resides in a gloomy British manor house. Things get better when she discovers and nurtures a walled garden. Agnieszka Holland directs; Maggie Smith and Kate Maberly star; Francis Ford Coppola is executive producer. (Warner Bros.)

So I Married an Axe Murderer. Mike Myers is a confirmed bachelor who breaks ranks when he meets a woman who may or may not hack people up on occasion. Nancy Travis also stars for director Thomas Schlamme. (TriStar)

Splitting Heirs. Rick Moranis, John Cleese and Barbara Hershey join Eric Idle, who, as an infant, was misplaced with another baby during a wild London party. The mishap has cost him a dukedom, and he’ll do anything to get it back. Monty Python’s Idle writes, executive produces and co-stars. Robert Young directs. (Universal)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III. The third episode in a series takes the quartet back in time to ancient Japan, where they do it all over again. Paige Turco, Elias Koteas return; Stuart Gillard directs. (New Line)

The Thing Called Love. Peter Bogdanovich directs country music performers K.T. Oslin and Trisha Yearwood in a love story that follows the merging lives of a few folks who seek fame in Nashville. Starring River Phoenix, Samantha Mathis and Dermot Mulroney. (Paramount)

This Boy’s Life. Michael Caton-Jones directs this adaptation of Tobias Wolff’s autobiographical novel. Robert De Niro plays Ellen Barkin’s colorful, yet strict, suitor who has a profound effect on her teen-age son. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the son. (Warner Bros.)

Three of Hearts. William Baldwin stars in a romantic comedy for “Anna” director Yurek Bogayevicz. Kelly Lynch and Sherilyn Fenn also star in the tale of a New York City bachelor who is just about to give up on love when the unexpected occurs. (New Line)

Tobe Hooper’s Nightmare. “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” director has cast Robert Englund in a new role: the sexually obsessed leader of a decadent cult tracking down a beautiful young woman. (Cannon)

True Romance. Tony Scott directs Quentin Tarantino’s script about a young couple who flee Detroit with a suitcase full of Mob booty. Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette are the lovers who hope to peddle the stuff and start life anew in L.A. Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt and Val Kilmer ensure that they have major troubles. (Warner Bros.)

Two Mikes Don’t Make a Wright. The two “Mikes” are Leigh and Moore, of “Life Is Sweet” and “Roger & Me” fame. Leigh will offer “A Sense of History” while the pudgy Moore brings us “Pets or Meat: A Return to Flint.” Steven Wright rounds out this trilogy of shorts with his “The Appointment of Dennis Jennings.” (October Films)

Utz. Armin Mueller-Stahl stars in the film version of Bruce Chatwin’s novel of a Prague resident who is obsessed with his rare Meissen porcelain. Brenda Fricker, Peter Riegert and Paul Scofield also star; George Sluizer directs. (First Run/Castle Hill)

Waiting. When old friends gather to await the birth of a baby, personalities begin to clash. Deborah-Lee Furness stars for writer/director Jackie McKimmie. (Aries)

Warlock: The Armageddon. Julian Sands returns (Richard E. Grant doesn’t) in this sequel in which Satan’s one son tries to unleash daddy from the confines of hell. Anthony Hickox directs. (Trimark)

Watch It. This refers to a game of outrageous one-upmanship as played by two friends from college. When Peter Gallagher comes to Chicago to see one of them (who is his cousin), he becomes part of this ritual, and soon things take a different turn. Tom Flynn directs and writes. (Skouras)

Who’s the Man? Dr. Dre and Ed Lover, MTV’s “Yo, MTV Raps!” series’ hosts, go big-screen, directed by Ted Demme. The two star as a pair of Harlem misfits who uncover a scandal that could threaten the ‘hood. (New Line)

Wild Sargasso Sea. In a romantic drama set in 1840s Jamaica, a young woman experiences sexual awakening amid a strict upbringing and a society torn by a history of slavery. John Duigan directs; Karina Lombard stars with special appearances by Rachel Ward and Michael York. (Fine Line)

Wild West. A group of Pakistini brothers decide to form a country band in this London-based comedy. David Attwood directs Sarita Choudhury. (Samuel Goldwyn Co.)