MOVIES’True’ Box Office?: 20th Century Fox was...

MOVIES

‘True’ Box Office?: 20th Century Fox was not reporting box-office figures on Friday for Thursday night’s preview showings of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s latest action movie, “True Lies,” but industry sources said the film grossed about $2 million on 1,300 screens. “That’s a strong, but not blockbuster” performance, said one. But the same source said the number may not be indicative of the film’s potential, since many fans had likely planned to see the movie on its official opening day, Friday. Fox officials did not return calls by Calendar’s deadline.

TELEVISION

Space Talk: To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the first space landing, Nickelodeon will give kids on Earth an opportunity to speak directly with the Columbia Space Shuttle crew. “Space Shuttle, Phone Home,” a special edition of “Nick News,” will be moderated by Linda Ellerbee and broadcast live from Orlando at 7 a.m. today. Ellerbee will be joined in the studio by a group of kids and former astronaut Charles Boulden Jr. The half-hour show will also explore the history of space travel, covering everything from the first moon landing to the current expedition. The show will repeat today at 10 a.m. and Sunday at 8 p.m.

PEOPLE WATCH

War on Drugs Explored: Actor Richard Dreyfuss will moderate a panel discussion on drug policy in America, Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Writers Guild in Beverly Hills. The panel of experts will include former New York City “drug czar” David C. Condliffe, now the executive director of the Drug Policy Foundation; James P. Gray, judge of the Superior Court of Orange County; Mike Gray, author of “The China Syndrome”; Princeton University professor Ethan Nadelmann; former mayor of Hartford Carrie Saxon Perry, and Institute of Scientific Analysis researcher Marsha Rosenbaum. Guests will include Compton High School students involved in a drug prevention program, as well as Michael Douglas, Donna Mills, Ron Silver and Meredith Baxter.

* Roseanne and Tom Alert: Roseanne has renewed her spousal abuse claims against husband Tom Arnold, saying that she withdrew her original claims because she was afraid of Arnold. Her new declaration includes photographs of bruises she claims Arnold inflicted during their marriage. Meanwhile Arnold has filed his own declaration saying he is out of work and requires $100,000 a month support from his wife.

* Stern’s Private Parts: New York gubernatorial candidate and radio shock jock Howard Stern sued New York’s Ethics Commission Thursday, seeking to strike down the law that requires candidates for public office to disclose their finances. As the Libertarian Party candidate, Stern has until Aug. 30 to submit forms detailing his and his family’s assets and liabilities.

THE ARTS

McLaughlin Exhibition Postponed: The Laguna Art Museum announced Friday that a retrospective featuring the work of Southern California modernist painter John McLaughlin has been rescheduled from this October and will not open until the summer of 1996. A pet project of the museum’s former director, Charles Desmarais, the show was postponed once before (it initially was scheduled for the museum’s 75th anniversary celebration last year). Desmarais, who began working on the ambitious project four years ago, maintains the show as he conceived it is ready for presentation this fall. After Desmarais was fired by the board last spring, the exhibition became a bone of contention. In place of the McLaughlin show, the museum will substitute “Lit From Within,” an exhibition of Amish quilts from the collection of Doug Tompkins, former owner of Esprit de Corp. in San Francisco.

* ‘God’s Heart’ Canceled: South Coast Repertory has canceled plans to present the world premiere of Craig Lucas’ “God’s Heart” next spring because the New York playwright will be busy working on the film of another of his plays, SCR officials have announced. Lucas and his collaborator, Norman Rene, who was to direct “God’s Heart,” will be filming Lucas’ “Reckless,” which Rene will direct. Lucas, who is an associate artist with the South Coast Repertory, has premiered two of his plays, “Three Postcards” and “Prelude to a Kiss,” at the Costa Mesa theater. In its place, Moliere’s “The Misanthrope” will be added to SCR’s six-play Mainstage season.

POP/ROCK

The Who on Exhibit: Twenty-four photographs from the collection of Tom Wright, U.S. road manager and photographer for the Who, will be on exhibit at the Universal Amphitheatre during the five-week engagement of “The Who’s Tommy,” which opened there Friday. Wright’s collection, which chronicles 25 years of the band’s history, is on limited loan from the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin, which was recently named the permanent repository for his archive.