Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

MOVIES

Let the Games Erupt: Fanning the flames of the dueling volcano movies, Universal Pictures announced that the release date of “Dante’s Peak” would be moved up from March 7 to Feb. 7. Twentieth Century Fox’s “Volcano” is scheduled to surface on Feb. 28. “This comes as no surprise,” said Fox senior executive vice president Tom Sherak. “They’ve been trying to make this happen for awhile--spending a fortune to get their special effects done.” Fox’s re-release of “Star Wars” in late January--plus the enormous post-production load--make it unlikely that the studio will leapfrog Universal again. In light of the new release date for “Dante’s Peak,” insiders now expect “Volcano” to be pushed back to May, two weeks before the opening of Universal’s “Jurassic Park” sequel, “The Lost World.” “There’s the possibility ‘Volcano’ will become a spring or summer movie,” Sherak admits. “But, for now, we’re standing firm. We want them to go early, to be in a rush. That’s been the game from the start.”

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Doing the Sundance: A total of 127 films from around the world have been selected for screening at the Sundance Film Festival, Jan. 16-26 in Park City, Utah. Eighteen features have been chosen for the prestigious dramatic competition (the directors are listed in parentheses): “All Over Me” (Alex Sichel); “Arresting Gena” (Hannah Weyer); “Black & White & Red All Over” (DeMane Davis, Harry McCoy, Khari Streeter); “The Clockwatchers” (Jill Sprecher); “Colin Fitz” (Robert Bella); “The Delta” (Ira Sachs); “Eye of God” (Tim Blake Nelson); “George B.” (Eric Lea); “Going All the Way” (Mark Pellington); “House of Yes” (Mark Waters); “Hurricane” (Morgan J. Freeman); “In the Company of Men” (Neil LaBute); “love jones” (Theodore Whitcher); “The Myth of Fingerprints” (Bart Freundlich); “Santa Fe” (Andrew Shea); “Slaves to the Underground” (Kristine Peterson); “Strays” (Vin Diesel); and “Sunday” (Jonathan Nossiter). Chosen to premiere as the festival centerpiece: “Ulee’s Gold” (Victor Nunez).

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Who’s the Favorite of Them All?: Mel Gibson, an Oscar winner for “Braveheart” and star of the current hit “Ransom,” edged out John Wayne as America’s favorite movie star in 1996, according to a Harris poll. Wayne has remained near or at the top of the survey despite his death in 1979. Demi Moore was the highest-ranked actress, at No. 14. After Gibson and Wayne came Steven Seagal, followed by Clint Eastwood. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Cruise tied for fifth. Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington and Kevin Costner came next, with Sylvester Stallone and Paul Newman in a tie for 10th. The telephone survey of 1,000 adults was taken Nov. 8-11. The margin of error was about 3 percentage points.

MUSIC

2001: A Retirement Odyssey: If things go according to plan, the curtain will close on Luciano Pavarotti’s opera career in five years, the tenor told an Italian newspaper. “I debuted in 1961. . . . A 40-year career is all a tenor dares to do,” Pavarotti, 61, told Il Messaggero in a story printed Sunday in Rome. So what’s next? Pavarotti will give singing lessons and hopes to launch an international horse racing event.

TV/RADIO

Thanks for the (Longest) Memories: Bob Hope has received a framed citation from the Guinness Book of World Records for having had “the longest continuous contract in the history of radio and television”--60 years with NBC. The 93-year-old native of London received the citation at his Palm Springs home; London-based Guinness Book officials flew out to present it to him. This was Hope’s second Guinness record: He was enshrined earlier this decade as “The Most Honored Individual in the Entertainment Industry” after receiving more than 100 national and international honors, 53 of which were academic honors. He has received four special Academy Awards, an Emmy, a Peabody, an Order of the British Empire and Distinguished Service medals from all branches of the armed forces.

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The Beat Goes On: KKBT-FM (92.3)--which recently created a furor within the African American community by airing a recurring skit about crack babies on its morning-drive program “House Party” before deleting it from the program--is airing a special two-part series on crack cocaine. This time, it’s serious business. The two-day, six-hour series, which will be broadcast 8-11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, is called “Street Science” and will deal with crack cocaine in Los Angeles. Sharon Klein, a spokeswoman for KKBT (which is known as “The Beat”), said there was no connection between the “Street Science” series and last month’s cocaine baby controversy. “We’ve done shows regarding this issue in the past and will continue to do so as long as there’s a problem in the community,” she said.

QUICK TAKES

Director and DreamWorks SKG partner Steven Spielberg and his wife, actress Kate Capshaw, became parents of a daughter Sunday. Destry Allyn Spielberg weighed 7 pounds, 12 ounces. This brings the Spielberg total to seven children. . . . Before it even goes into previews tonight, the Geffen Playhouse production of Terrence McNally’s “Love! Valour! Compassion!” has been extended by three weeks, through Jan. 26, due to the demand for tickets. The show set a house record on the first day of ticket sales, taking in $30,728 on Nov. 18.

--CLAUDIA PUIG