MOVIESGoing to Battle: The “Jurassic Park” dinosaurs...

MOVIES

Going to Battle: The “Jurassic Park” dinosaurs thundered onto 450 French movie screens Wednesday at the peak of a culture and trade war between Hollywood corporate giants and France’s feisty film industry, which is in a furor over the increasing global dominance of American films. Dubbed “Le Dino Boom” by the local press, Steven Spielberg’s worldwide blockbuster will compete head-to-head with the most expensive French film ever, a $29-million historical drama called “Germinal,” about oppressed coal miners. While local news commentaries have questioned whether going to the movies should be a test of patriotism, French Culture Minister Jacques Toubon announced Wednesday that the government would pay to make 90 extra copies of “Germinal,” which had already been playing on about 350 screens.

Discrimination Suit: A former Warner Bros. vice president has sued the studio for sex and age discrimination, claiming she was demoted and laid off in favor of younger male and female replacements. Bonnie Lynn Adamson, 51, alleges in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that she was edged out by younger employees in a 1992 reorganization of the studio’s distribution arm; that she was denied a contract, raise and bonus, even though other employees got them in the reorganization; and that Warner Bros. favors men in supervisory positions and pays male managers more for the same work. She was laid off in 1992. Adamson joined Warner Bros. in 1979 as vice president for international distribution.

Trial Begins: An attorney for game-show producer Paul Alter, who is suing the Walt Disney Co. over a screen treatment he said was the basis for the film “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid,” compared his client to humorist Art Buchwald during opening statements in the L.A. Superior Court case--an obvious reference to a case in which Buchwald got a cut of profits from “Coming to America” by proving he did a two-page treatment for the Paramount film. Alter alleges Disney took his idea after he met with a Disney executive in 1980, then made the film without paying or crediting him. He seeks at least $1 million. Disney maintains the film was developed by others and that any similarity between Alter’s treatment and the film “is attributable to the kind of story being told.”

Free Keiko!: Pupils from Tampa’s Northwest Elementary School are reaching out to children through crayons and computers, asking them to donate $1 of their allowances to free Keiko the whale, who starred in the summer film “Free Willy.” Operation Free Keiko hopes to raise $1 million. Keiko, 3 1/2 tons and 21 feet long, lives in a small tank in a Mexico City amusement park where he has been a top attraction for eight years, but is now underweight and suffers from a skin disease.

ART

Art Meets Technology: Virtual reality is hitting the museum world. “Virtual Reality: An Emerging Medium,” a weeklong installation showcasing the new interactive computer medium designed to immerse the viewer in an artificial world, goes on view Friday at New York’s Guggenheim Museum SoHo. The installation, which features five separate virtual reality “worlds” displayed on personal computers, is the first presentation of its kind at an American art museum. The installation includes the first virtual artwork by renowned contemporary artist Jenny Holzer, and a work by recording artist Thomas Dolby.

TELEVISION

‘Soul Train’ Rolls: “Soul Train” will have a new look when it launches its 23rd season Saturday at noon on KTLA-TV Channel 5. There will be a new set, a new logo and a new theme; most significantly, Don Cornelius is relinquishing his longtime role as host of the music show. He’ll continue as producer, but now the hosting will be done by different guests each week, starting with Kim Wayans.

Watching the Denny Verdict: The Reginald O. Denny beating trial didn’t have the pull for TV viewers that the Rodney G. King civil rights trial did. Although viewing levels doubled for the verdicts in the King federal trial, viewership rose only slightly--6.6% more than normal--Monday morning when the bulk of the Denny verdicts were announced. Approximately 1.4 million Los Angeles and Orange county houses had their TV sets on between 11 a.m.-noon when all seven area VHF television stations preempted regularly scheduled programming for coverage, according to the A. C. Nielsen Co.

QUICK TAKES

Polaroid photographs by filmmaker Tim Burton, taken of the characters he created for his feature “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” go on view tonight at La Brea Avenue’s Fahey/Klein Gallery. In addition, artwork from Burton’s first children’s book (also called “The Nightmare Before Christmas”) go on display Monday at Every Picture Tells a Story. . . . Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan on Wednesday was announced as one of four new members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences board of directors. Riordan has also been named the honorary board chair of ART/LA, the eighth International Art Fair that takes place at the Convention Center in December. . . . Cover model Fabio appears as a figment of Roseanne’s romantic fantasies in the Nov. 9 episode of ABC’s “Roseanne,” titled “Guilt by Imagination.” Vicki Lawrence also guest stars.