Sneaks ’93 : Summer

Schwarzenegger battles the creatures roaming “Jurassic Park” in the summer box office’s battle of the behemoths. Arnold both exploits and spoofs his mega-man image in “The Last Action Hero,” while director Steven Spielberg taps into children’s erternal fascination with dinosaurs. But look for other movie stalwarts too: Clint Eastwood (“In the Line of Fire”), Tom Cruise (“The Firm”), Bruce Willis (“Striking Distance”), Bette Midler (“Hocus Pocus”), Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver (“Dave”), Michael J. Fox (“For Love or Money”) and producer John Hughes, who launches another towheaded young hero in “Dennis the Menace.”

*

American Ninja 5. A master of the genre teams up with a 12-year-old Ninja to snatch a scientist and his daughter from evil hands. David Bradley stars; Bobby Gene Leonard directs. (Cannon)

Blake Edwards’ Son of the Pink Panther. Stars Roberto Benigni in the title role, with Herbert Lom and Burt Kwouk returning as Commissioner Dreyfus and Cato, respectively. When a princess is kidnaped, Clouseau Junior (illegitimate and heretofore unknown) inadvertently takes charge. Also stars Debrah Farentino. (MGM)

The Coneheads. “Wayne’s World” producer Lorne Michaels hopes to unearth another “Saturday Night Live” sketch gold mine. Conehead patriarch Dan Aykroyd co-writes and Steve Barron directs. (Paramount)

Dave. Kevin Kline plays a look-alike for our President, who impersonates the President when the real McCoy buckles down to serious business. But when the Commander in Chief is stricken ill, guess who steps in? Even the First Lady’s fooled. Ivan Reitman directs; Sigourney Weaver co-stars. (Warner Bros.)

Dennis the Menace. Mason Gamble is Dennis in this adaptation of Hank Ketcham’s comic strip written and produced by John Hughes. Walter Matthau is the embattled Mr. Wilson; Christopher Lloyd, Joan Plowright and Lea Thompson also star for director Nick Castle. (Warner Bros.)

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Gus Van Sant adapted and directs Tom Robbins’ novel, with Uma Thurman starring with John Hurt, Lorraine Bracco, Keanu Reeves and a host of cameo performers (led by Roseanne Arnold). Thurman hitchhikes from N.Y.C. to an all-girl ranch in the Dakota Plains. (Fine Line)

Fatal Instinct. Carl Reiner’s send-up of the suspense genre stars Armand Assante as Ned Ravine--cop, lawyer, husband . . . buffoon. Wife Kate Nelligan and her auto mechanic lover decide to plot Ned’s murder for the proverbial insurance money. With Sean Young and Sherilyn Fenn. (MGM)

The Firm. Director Sydney Pollack takes on John Grisham’s bestseller in which Tom Cruise plays a Harvard Law School alum who accepts a position in a small but mysteriously cash-rich law firm in Tennessee. Gene Hackman is Cruise’s mentor, and Jeanne Tripplehorn his wife. Wilford Brimley, Gary Busey, Ed Harris, Hal Holbrook and Holly Hunter co-star in the Robert Towne/David Rayfiel script. (Paramoun

For Love or Money. Once called “The Concierge,” due to the fact that Michael J. Fox portrays one at a tony Manhattan hotel. Trying to raise money for his own place, he befriends an investor and looks after the man’s beautiful mistress. “Addams Family’s” Barry Sonnenfeld directs. (Universal)

Free Willy. A troubled young boy makes friends with an orca whale at a local aquatic park. When he learns of the whale’s imminent removal, he decides to return him to the sea. Jason James Richter and Lori Petty star; Simon Wincer directs. (Warner Bros.)

Ghost in the Machine. A serial killer mutates into a computer virus and stealthily pursues a family through the technology that surrounds them. Karen Allen stars for director Rachel Talalay. (Fox)

Hard Target. Hong Kong action director John Woo takes his first crack at a Hollywood film, directing Jean-Claude Van Damme in a tale of sadistic hunters who prey on homeless veterans in New Orleans’ French Quarter. (Universal)

Heart & Souls. Four souls, recently dearly departed, receive one last chance to redeem their earthly existences. “City Slickers”’ Ron Underwood directs Robert Downey Jr., Charles Grodin and Alfre Woodard. (Universal)

Hocus Pocus. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and “Sister Act’s” Kathy Najimy are three 17th-Century witches who were hanged as sorcerers. When their spirits are conjured up in modern-day Salem, Mass., they vow to eat all the children they can chase down. Kenny Ortega directs. (Buena Vista)

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me. Joel Hershman wrote and directed a comedy following a fellow on the lam who becomes immersed in the offbeat community of a trailer park. Sean Young, Diane Ladd, Adrienne Shelly and Max Parrish star. (distribution pending)

Hot Shots! Part Deux. Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges and Valeria Golino are back, this time with Bridges as the Commander in Chief who enlists Topper (Sheen) and his commando unit for a rescue mission. Director-writer Jim Abrahams and producer-writer Pat Proft also return. (Fox)

In the Line of Fire. John Malkovich plays a brilliant assassin who vows to kill the President right under the nose of maverick Secret Service agent--Clint Eastwood. Rene Russo (“Lethal Weapon 3”) also stars for “Das Boot” director Wolfgang Petersen. (Columbia)

Johnny Zombie. Bob Balaban directs a comedy about a young man who desperately wants to take Missy to the prom but is killed before the big night. He uproots himself but is horrified to discover he’ll decompose on Missy unless he feasts on living flesh. No cast yet. (Buena Vista)

Judgement Night. Four buddies on their way to the fights take a wrong turn off the freeway and become imperiled in an unfamiliar urban neighborhood. Emilio Estevez and Cuba Gooding Jr. star for director Stephen Hopkins. (Universal)

Jurassic Park. Michael Crichton’s best-selling novel about genetically re-created dinosaurs that populate--then wreak havoc in--a theme park. Steven Spielberg directs and Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough star. (Universal)

Kalifornia. Dominic Sena directs Brad Pitt and Juliette Lewis in this strange trip through Americana and the minds of serial killers. (Gramercy)

The Last Action Hero. Arnold Schwarzenegger reunites with “Predator” director John McTiernan in this action-fantasy, and Austin O’Brien plays a young movie fan who joins his favorite movie hero (Arnold) on screen. F. Murray Abraham, Anthony Quinn and Mercedes Ruehl also star. (Columbia)

Life With Mikey. Michael J. Fox is a former child star who now oversees a tacky talent agency for child performers. With his business on the brink of folding, he discovers Christina Vidal as a precocious little con artist who may save his neck. Nathan Lane, Cyndi Lauper co-star for director James Lapine. (Buena Vista)

The Long Day Closes. In 1950s Liverpool, everything’s great at 11-year-old Bud’s new school--he loves the music, digs the movies and long summer days, but he could do without a strange school crowd. Terence Davies writes/directs; Marjorie Yates and Leigh McCormack star. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Made in America--Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson star in a comedy of a teen-age girl who’s shocked to learn that her thought-to-be dead father is actually a local cable-TV car salesman! She seeks him out and sets him up with her still single mother. Richard Benjamin directs. (Warner Bros.)

Mel Brooks’ Untitled Robin Hood Movie. A spoof of the Sherwood Forest legend starring Cary Elwes, Richard Lewis, Roger Rees, Tracey Ullman and Isaac Hayes. Brooks produces/directs/co-writes. (Fox)

Needful Things. Another Stephen King adaptation by the “Misery” people, Castle Rock. When an outwardly peaceful stranger opens a curious antique shop in a small, New England village.well, you know. Ed Harris, Bonnie Bedelia, Max Von Sydow, Amanda Plummer and J.T. Walsh star for director Fraser Heston. (Columbia)

Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers. “Rambling Rose” director Martha Coolidge tackles Simon’s Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play of two brothers who are shuffled off to live with a new family. Ray Stark produces the Simon script starring Richard Dreyfuss and Mercedes Ruehl. (Columbia)

Once Upon a Forest. Former Phantom Michael Crawford and Ben Vereen provide voices in this animated tale of three woodland creatures who must leave the forest to save a young friend. Charles Grosvenor directs. (Fox)

Orlando. Writer-director Sally Potter adapts Virgina Woolf’s fantasy novel. The story takes place over 400 years, during which Orlando travels from Queen Elizabeth I’s court to Central Asia. Along the way, he becomes a she and grapples with the modern world. Tilda Swinton and Lothaire Bluteau star. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Poetic Justice. “Boyz N the Hood” director John Singleton cast Janet Jackson as Justice, a hairdresser and recluse who creates poetry to help cope with a violent episode in her past. Rapper Tupac Shakur co-stars as her companion on a trip from South-Central L.A. to Oakland. (Columbia)

Reckless Kelly. Yahoo Serious, whose Aussie hit “Young Einstein” flopped here, returns to write/direct/star in this comedy of an Australian bank robber who comes stateside and excels as a rock star. (Warner Bros.)

Rookie of the Year. When a 12-year-old leftie goes from lobbing a baseball to hurling the heat like Sandy Koufax, he hopes to bring a pennant to his beloved Chicago Cubs. Daniel Stern makes his directing bow, starring Thomas Ian Nicholas, Gary Busey and Stern himself. (Fox)

Sliver. The Ira Levin bestseller, adapted by Joe Eszterhas with Robert Evans producing, Phillip Noyce directing and Sharon Stone, William Baldwin and Tom Berenger starring. Odd fatal accidents occur in a tall, thin New York City apartment building. (Paramount)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Restoration of the first animated Disney feature, adapted from the Grimm’s Fairy Tales. (Buena Vista)

Son-in-Law. Pauly Shore plays Crawl, a funky guy who falls for, then accompanies a young country girl back to her rural farm during a college break. Her parents are not amused. Steve Rash directs. (Buena Vista)

Striking Distance. Bruce Willis, a maverick cop again, is convinced that a newly active serial killer is the same creep who murdered his dad two years earlier. He decides to work around the system to clear things up. Sarah Jessica Parker plays his new partner and Dennis Farina also stars for director Rowdy Herrington. (Columbia)

Surf Warriors. Two brothers are surprised to learn they are princes of a South Sea island, where they help overthrow the dastardly Col. Chi with their surfing and martial arts skills. Neal Israel directs Ernie Reyes Jr., Leslie Nielsen, Tone Loc and “SNL’s” Rob Schneider. (New Line)

Super Mario Bros. Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo portray Nintendo’s Italian plumbers. Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel directed; Dennis Hopper and Fisher Stevens also star. (Buena Vista)

Tina. The story of Anna Mae Bullock, who escaped an impoverished childhood in Tennessee to become a singer. She met and married Ike Turner, and, as Tina Turner, found fame--and its downside. Angela Bassett and Larry Fishburne star; Brian Gibson directs. (Buena Vista)

Undercover Blues. Dennis Quaid and Kathleen Turner play spies Jeff and Jane Blue. Living in New Orleans, the couple--who have a new baby--are forced back into action to recover a stolen arms shipment. Herbert Ross directs. (MGM)

Untitled Patrick Swayze Project. Swayze plays a nickle-’n’-dime stick-up thug, virtually oblivious to his young son and daughter in a foster home. His heart comes around when the daughter breaks out of the shelter and the three of them hit the road, one step ahead of the law. Darrel James Roodt directs. (Buena Vista)

Weekend at Bernie’s 2. The sequel to the 1989 surprise summer hit picks up one day after the first one left off. Bernie’s still dead. Andrew McCarthy, Jonathan Silverman and Terry Kiser return for writer-director Robert Klane. (TriStar)