MOVIES’The Flintstones,’ Live: If box-office success translates...

MOVIES

‘The Flintstones,’ Live: If box-office success translates into theme park attendance, Universal Studios Hollywood should be swamped this summer when it opens “The Flintstones Show” on June 18. The live, interactive stage show marks the first time in Universal Studios’ 30-year history that it will open a major new attraction while the film on which it is based is still in theaters. Billed as the most extensive live stage spectacular ever conceived by Universal, “The Flintstones Show” follows Fred, Barney, Wilma, Betty and Dino to Hollyrock, USA, where Fred is chosen to star in the world’s first “rock” video by “Univershell Pictures.”

* A Stadium Premiere: Walt Disney Studios plans to make movie history when it premieres its new baseball-themed comedy “Angels in the Outfield” at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium on July 10 as part of activities leading up to the July 12 Major League All-Star game there. Some 35,000 fans are expected to attend the premiere, which will be shown on three screens set up on the stadium’s playing field. The film’s stars include Danny Glover, Tony Danza and Christopher Lloyd.

TELEVISION

Extending ‘Limits’: The popular science-fiction anthology and 1960s TV series “The Outer Limits” will be resurrected on cable’s Showtime, with a new two-hour movie scheduled to air next February, followed by 20 one-hour episodes by science-fiction writers who work “in the spirit” of masters Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury and H.G. Wells. Produced by the MGM Worldwide Television Group, the project is being billed as “the first major step in the rebuilding of MGM Television” since it’s the first major production deal under new president John Symes. Writers, directors and cast for the project were not announced.

* Star Power: Cable’s TNT has announced its upcoming “TNT Originals” movie slate with vehicles for top stars including Tommy Lee Jones, Tom Selleck, Tom Berenger, Ben Kingsley and Matthew Modine. In addition to previously announced programming, TNT’s 1994-95 slate includes two biblical stories--* “Jacob,” starring Modine, Lara Flynn Boyle and Irene Papas, and “Joseph,” with Kingsley, Lesley Ann Warren, Martin Landau and Paul Mercurio--and the historical “Andersonville,” a true story about a Confederate prisoner of war camp. Also planned is “In Search of Dr. Seuss,” featuring Kathy Najimy, Matt Frewer, Christopher Lloyd, Andrea Martin, Patrick Stewart, Eileen Brennan and Robin Williams in a Nov. 20 film tribute to the children’s writer, and “The Heidi Chronicles,” a film version of Wendy Wasserstein’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Other projects include “Broken Trust,” a contemporary legal thriller starring Selleck; “Avenging Angel,” a Mormon-themed Western starring Berenger; and “The Good Old Boys,” starring Jones, Sissy Spacek and Sam Shepard in a story of a turn-of-the-century cowboy caught between old and new ways.

ART

Middlebrook Joins LACE: Photographer Willie Middlebrook, who is fighting the city’s Cultural Affairs Department over his ouster as director of the Watts Towers Arts Center, has been appointed exhibitions director of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions. In his new position, he will coordinate LACE’s exhibition program and curate two shows each year. Middlebrook was removed from the Watts Towers directorship a year ago and terminated from city employment in April, under charges that he had falsified neighborhood workers’ time sheets. He denies the charges and has filed an appeal, which will be heard next Wednesday by the Civil Service Commission. “I just want to clear my record,” Middlebrook said of the hearing, adding that he sees the LACE position as “an advancement” and has no desire to return to his former job. LACE opens its new Hollywood space June 16.

STAGE

Cutbacks Bring Layoffs: The two senior vice presidents of Theatre Corp. of America who were directly responsible for choosing shows for the Pasadena Playhouse and Alex Theatre have been laid off as part of the same cutbacks that brought a halt to most of the company’s touring programs last week. Deborah Dixon, who worked at the Playhouse, and Martin Wiviott, who produced the Alex shows, were dismissed. Lars Hansen, the company’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, will temporarily take on their duties.

QUICK TAKES

The Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department on Wednesday announced $116,385 in special Earthquake Recovery Grants to 41 arts groups and 59 individual artists affected by the Jan. 17 temblor. The grants ranged up to $3,000 and will help replace supplies and equipment, restore artworks and make up for lost box-office receipts. . . . PBS has ordered 20 new half-hour programs and two hourlong specials for the third season of its successful children’s series “Barney & Friends.” The 1995 programs will feature special theme weeks, focusing on such topics as “My Family and Me” and “My Animal Friends.” . . . Charges were dismissed in Chicago Tuesday against two of the three men accused in the slaying of Roderick Roundtree, the road manager for the pop group Boyz II Men. The third man, Christopher Babbington, has told police he shot Roundtree in self-defense.