Fall Outlook: A Bumper Crop of New Films : Movies: About 30 films are scheduled to hit theaters for the autumn season, just about the time that the strongest of summer’s movies begin fading.

What can Hollywood do for an encore?

After a tremendously successful summer of broad appealing, commercial movies, the pressure is on to keep the momentum going during film’s autumn season, which kicks off after the Labor Day holiday.

Among the titles most likely to emerge from a crowded field of new movies, according to some theater exhibitors, are: “Demolition Man” starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes; “Mr. Jones” with Richard Gere; “Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas” and “The Good Son,” starring the “Home Alone” kid Macaulay Culkin.

There also is strong buzz about director Martin Scorsese’s “The Age of Innocence,” with a cast that includes Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder and Michelle Pfeiffer.

All these and about 30 other movies will hit theaters just about the time that the strongest of summer’s movies begin fading.

“Pictures are just colliding together,” said Michael Patrick, the chairman of the Carmike Theatres circuit that operates in 25 states.

Some movies opening this month are ones exhibitors and studio executives believe will provide an unprecedented late-summer surge of movie-going that will carry over into September. Among them: “Searching for Bobby Fischer,” which has opened in limited run and will expand into more theaters week by week; Woody Allen’s “Manhattan Murder Mystery” (opening Wednesday); “Heart and Souls” (Friday) with Charles Grodin and Robert Downey Jr.; “Hard Target,” with Jean-Claude Van Damme (Aug. 20); “King of the Hill,” a new film from director Steven Soderbergh (Aug. 20); “Man Without a Face,” directed by and starring Mel Gibson (Aug. 25); “Son of the Pink Panther” (Aug. 27) and “Father Hood,” with Patrick Swayze (Aug. 27).

Carmike’s Patrick expects the hit movie “The Fugitive” to continue playing through October, bumping right into the fall releases.

He couldn’t be happier: “The popcorn machines are hot and it looks like the strong summer business will keep on going.”

If so, that would be a switch.

Autumn is not known as a season for big commercial films. It’s a time for Woody Allen movies and more adult themes, exhibitors say. Meanwhile, moviegoing tends to fall off after Labor Day signals the end to summer vacation.

Big-grossing movies in the fall, such as last year’s “Sneakers” with Robert Redford and “Last of the Mohicans” with Daniel Day-Lewis, are exceptions.

“This fall will be better than last year, but that’s not hard to do,” said Barrie Loeks, co-chairman of East Coast-based Loew’s Theaters. She said the big number of titles and the strength of holdover films from summer ensure that.

Still, she noted some potential weaknesses: There’s only one “really big-budget” film (“Demolition Man”) and one sequel (“RoboCop 3” on Nov. 5) until the big Thanksgiving-to-New Year’s season kicks in.

Then, starting just before Thanksgiving Day weekend, three big sequels open: “Addams Family Values,” “Sister Act 2” and “Wayne’s World 2.”

After the sequelmania, some of the year’s most prestigious films are to be released, just before the Oscar deadline. Among these: Oliver Stone’s “Heaven and Earth,” Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” and Jonathan Demme’s “Philadelphia.”

Until that time, here are some of Hollywood’s autumn offerings:

“Boxing Helena” (the subject of a much-hyped legal case between actress Kim Basinger and the film’s producer), with Julian Sands, Sherilyn Fenn and Art Garfunkel, in an unusual love story (Sept. 3).

“Kalifornia” features Brad Pitt as a sociopathic killer and his girlfriend (Juliette Lewis) as they take a young couple on a tour of historic murder sites (Sept. 3).

“The Joy Luck Club,” based on Amy Tan’s novel, tells of a young Chinese-American woman who joins her deceased mother’s weekly mah-jongg group, made up of “three aunties.” Directed by Wayne Wang (Sept. 8).

“Undercover Blues” pairs Dennis Quaid and Kathleen Turner (a la “The Thin Man”) as retired spies Jeff and Jane Blue (Sept. 8).

“The Real McCoy” is a comedy tale of a former bank thief, played by Kim Basinger, who is paroled from prison, but is lured into crime again. With Val Kilmer (Sept. 10).

“The Age of Innocence” is Scorsese’s take on the fashionable world of 1870s New York City as depicted in Edith Wharton’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (Sept. 17).

“The Good Son” stars Culkin who goes to live with relatives and finds that his young cousin (Elijah Wood) has a dark and twisted soul (in September).

“Demolition Man” has hot cop Sylvester Stallone and villain Wesley Snipes cryogenically frozen and sent to the freezer for their respective crimes. Years later the two clash in an explosive battle (Oct. 8).

“Mr. Jones” stars Richard Gere as a man with a mysterious past. With Uma Thurman and Anne Bancroft (Oct. 8).

“Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas” is a twisted, animated feature about a “Halloween Town” ghoul who inadvertently ends up in cheerful “Christmas Town” (Oct. 13).

“Judgment Night,” an action drama about four young men who witness a murder. Denis Leary plays the killer and Emilio Estevez, Cuba Gooding Jr., Stephen Dorff and Jeremy Piven play the four guys. (Oct. 22).

“Malice,” a suspense thriller with Alec Baldwin and Nicole Kidman (in October).

“Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” bills Uma Thurman and Keanu Reeves in a comedy from director Gus Van Sant film with a soundtrack by k.d. lang (Nov. 3).

“Flesh and Bone” features Dennis Quaid, Meg Ryan, James Caan and Gwyneth Paltrow in a haunting drama set in a small Texas town, where a romance turns into a confrontation with secrets of the past (Nov. 5).

“Short Cuts,” from director Robert Altman, features an all-star ensemble cast in the tradition of his “The Player.” This time the subject is short stories set in suburban Los Angeles (Nov. 8).

“The Three Musketeers” has Chris O’Donnell as D’Artagnan and Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland and Oliver Platt as the swordsmen. With Rebecca DeMornay and Tim Curry (Nov. 12).

“Carlito’s Way” stars Al Pacino as a former gangster who is paroled and tries to avoid his past. Also stars Sean Penn as Pacino’s lawyer. Brian DePalma directs (in November).

“The Remains of the Day,” with Oscar winners Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson in a film from Merchant Ivory, the producers of the Oscar-winning “Howards End” in which both Hopkins and Thompson also starred (in November).