Yes, It’s a Lot of Movies but You Have a Whole Year

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An Alan Smithee Film--Burn, Hollywood, Burn. Writer Joe Eszterhas skewers the world of big-budget films in this satirical account of an ill-fated production. (Hollywood)

Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life. Sharon Gless narrates and Michael Paxton directs an examination of the author’s life, including her Hollywood apprenticeship to Cecil B. DeMille. (Strand)

Blues Brothers 2000. Director John Landis reunites with Dan Aykroyd for this sequel, which co-stars John Goodman and features musical acts ranging from Aretha Franklin to Erykah Badu. (Universal)

The Borrowers. Unscrupulous lawyer John Goodman threatens the happiness of the Clock family--a clan of tiny people who coexist with a normal household. Based on the children’s books by Mary Norton. (PolyGram)

The Break. An escaped Irish rebel (Stephen Rea) and a group of Guatemalan immigrants form an unlikely alliance for assassination in New York. (Castle Hill).

Dangerous Beauty. Catherine McCormack plays a celebrated courtesan in 16th century Venice as the city declines to a ravaged landscape. (Warner Bros.)

Dark City. Alex Proyas (“The Crow”) helms this futuristic thriller about a man who discovers that his memories and reality are artificial creations. William Hurt, Rufus Sewell and Kiefer Sutherland star. (New Line)

Deceiver. Tim Roth is an alcoholic aristocrat who spars with the investigators interrogating him about a prostitute’s murder. Written and directed by Jonas and Josh Pate (“The Grave”). (MGM)

Deep Rising. Would-be hijackers get in over their heads when they board a luxury liner that’s been taken over by a horrific invader. Treat Williams heads the cast. (Hollywood)

Desperate Measures. Murderer Michael Keaton is the perfect DNA match for the bone marrow transplant needed by the son of cop Andy Garcia in this Barbet Schroeder-directed drama. (TriStar)

The Dress. In Alex van Warmerdam’s surreal film, we follow the “life” of a dress in a tale filled with sex, violence, comedy and drama. In Dutch with English subtitles. (Attitude Films)

Four Days in September. Alan Arkin plays the victim in this account of the kidnapping of the American ambassador to Brazil and its effect on the young perpetrators. (Miramax)

Full Speed. A young man is reeling from the death of his best friend when some new protagonists enter the scene in Gale Morel’s exploration of modern youth. (Strand)

The Gingerbread Man. Robert Altman directs John Grisham’s first screenplay, with Kenneth Branagh as a Southern lawyer caught up in intrigue surrounding a beautiful woman (Embeth Davidtz). (PolyGram)

Gonin. Rising director Takashi Ishii enters Japan’s underbelly for the story of five desperate men, a daring robbery and two eccentric avengers. (Phaedra Cinema)

Great Expectations. Robert De Niro, Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow head the cast in an updated and transplanted version of the Dickens classic set in Florida and New York. Alfonso Cuaron directs. (Fox)

Homegrown. Billy Bob Thornton stars in the story of three hang-loose pot farmers who get in over their heads when they try to run the business. (Columbia)

Hurricane Streets. Morgan Freeman directs a drama about a youth (Brendan Sexton III) who tries to break away from the thug life in Staten Island, N.Y. (United Artists)

I Love You, Don’t Touch Me. Julie Davis makes her directing debut with her own script about a woman (Marla Schaffel) negotiating the complications of romance in the ‘90s. (Goldwyn Films)

Incognito. Jason Patric, Irene Jacob and Rod Steiger in the story of a master art forger whose final effort leads to betrayal and flight. John Badham directs. (Warner Bros.)

The Knowledge of Healing. House calls in northern India and Mongolia illustrate the principles and practice of the ancient Tibetan medical tradition. (IN Pictures)

Krippendorf’s Tribe. Anthropologist Richard Dreyfuss must quickly concoct a primitive society to film, before his elaborate ruse is discovered. Will his dysfunctional kids come to dad’s rescue? (Touchstone)

The Leading Man. Jon Bon Jovi is a stage actor entangled in a series of affairs with a playwright’s wife and a leading lady. (BMG Independents)

Les Miserables. Bille August directs Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush, Uma Thurman and Claire Danes in a new version of Victor Hugo’s classic. (Columbia)

Live Flesh. Pedro Almodovar’s latest concerns the surprising interaction between a man just out of jail and the people who wrongfully put him there. (Goldwyn Films)

Love Walked In. Things get sticky when lovers Denis Leary and Aitana Sanchez-Gijon scheme to entrap Terence Stamp in a compromising position. (Triumph)

Mission to Mir. An Imax look at the Russian space station and the high-altitude perestroika occurring there. (Imax)

Nil by Mouth. Writer-director Gary Oldman based his look at troubled London denizens on memories of his own working-class youth. Eric Clapton provides the score. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Palmetto. Bitter and just out of prison, Woody Harrelson is invited by Elisabeth Shue to help out in a phony kidnapping. (Columbia)

Phantoms. Horror honcho Dean Koontz teamed with Joel Soisson on an adaptation of his novel about a mysterious mass death in a small Colorado town. (Dimension)

The Real Blonde. Manhattan’s entertainment and fashion world is the setting for writer-director Tom DiCillo’s look at some models and actors whose lives overlap. (Paramount)

The Replacement Killers. In his American film debut, Hong Kong star Chow Yun-Fat plays a professional killer who teams with Mira Sorvino to overcome vengeful mobsters. (Columbia)

Ride. “House Party’s” Hudlin brothers produced this rags-to-riches comedy about some Harlem kids’ eventful bus trip to Miami. (Dimension)

Senseless. Penelope Spheeris directs Marlon Wayans as a student who volunteers to test a sense-expanding drug. The comedy shifts into gear when he takes a double dose. (Dimension)

Slappy and the Stinkers. Slappy is a sea lion, and the Stinkers are the adventurous 7-year-olds determined to free him from his aquarium confines. (TriStar)

Sliding Doors. They belong to a subway car, and their closing will determine the future of Gwyneth Paltrow. Writer-director Peter Howitt shows us both outcomes in parallel stories. (Miramax)

Sphere. Dustin Hoffman and Sharon Stone star for director Barry Levinson in a subaquatic suspense story based on Michael Crichton’s novel. (Warner Bros.)

Spice World. A millennial “Hard Day’s Night”? The Spice Girls give it their best shot in their film debut. (Columbia)

Swept From the Sea. Joseph Conrad’s short story “Amy Foster” is the basis for this drama about a servant (Rachel Weisz) and a shipwrecked foreigner in 19th century Cornwall, England. (TriStar)

Twilight. There’s a truckload of Oscars between director and co-writer Robert Benton and cast members Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon and Gene Hackman. They get together for a hard-boiled murder mystery set in contemporary L.A. (Paramount)

The Ugly. A psychologist tries to help a tormented boy, but can she handle it when his demons are unleashed? (Trimark)

Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. Marleen Gorris follows the acclaimed “Antonia’s Line” by directing an adaptation of the 1925 novel, with Vanessa Redgrave as a woman confronted by a figure from her youth (First Look)

The Wedding Singer. Entertainer Adam Sandler develops a penchant for wrecking weddings after he’s stood up at his own nuptials. (New Line)

Zero Effect. Private eyes Bill Pullman and Ben Stiller get involved with blackmail victim Ryan O’Neal and mysterious paramedic Kim Dickens. (Columbia)

Spring

Africa’s Elephant Kingdom. A pachyderm charging into the camera is one of the action highlights of this Imax-size study of the big beasts. (Discovery Channel Pictures)

Almost Heroes. You’ve heard of Lewis & Clark, but what about their rivals Edwards & Hunt? The late Chris Farley (in his last starring role) and Matthew Perry star for director Christopher Guest. (Warner Bros.)

Apt Pupil. Bryan Singer (“The Usual Suspects”) directs Ian McKellen as a fugitive Nazi war criminal and Brad Renfro as the teenager who discovers and blackmails him. Based on Stephen King’s novella. (TriStar)

Baby Geniuses. Kathleen Turner and Christopher Lloyd versus toddler troops out to disable the laboratory where the evil pair is trying to crack the lucrative secret of baby talk. (Columbia)

Barney’s Great Adventure: The Movie. Broadway’s Jerry Herman contributes the theme music for the feature-film debut of the Purple Craze. (PolyGram)

The Big Hit. Mark Wahlberg stars as a hired killer who gets in over his head when his pals kidnap an heiress with mob connections. (TriStar)

The Big Lebowski. The Coen brothers relocate from Fargo to L.A., where laid-back Jeff Bridges and bowling buddy John Goodman become entangled with millionaires and thugs. (Gramercy)

The Big One. Michael Moore (“Roger & Me”) hits the highway, skewering America’s downsizers and sympathizing with their victims. (Miramax)

Black Dog. Patrick Swayze is joined by country star Randy Travis and rock singer Meat Loaf in the story of a parolee trucker beset by double-crosses and pursuing FBI agents. (Universal)

B. Monkey. Oscar nominee Michael Radford (“Il Postino”) directs an international cast in the story of a woman who hopes her new love will enable her to escape her dark past. (Miramax)

Broadway Damage. Writer-director Victor Mignatti salutes the grand romantic gesture with the story of three friends with big dreams in Manhattan. (Jour de Fete Films)

Bulworth. Producer-writer-director Warren Beatty plays an imperiled U.S. senator who becomes involved with young South-Central L.A. resident Halle Berry. (Fox)

Butcher Boy. Writer-director Neil Jordan (“The Crying Game,” “Michael Collins”) adapts Patrick McCabe’s novel about a murder revealed through the memories of a mentally ill man (Stephen Rea). (Warner Bros.)

Chairman of the Board. Comedian Carrot Top makes his film debut as an inventor surfer who inherits a big business. Little Richard and Raquel Welch co-star. (Trimark)

Chinese Box. The Chinese takeover of Hong Kong is the occasion for joy, pain and self-discovery for Jeremy Irons and Gong Li. Wayne Wang directs. (Trimark)

City of Angels. Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage in the story of a guardian angel who falls in love with a woman. (Warner Bros.)

The Climb. A 12-year-old boy (Gregory Smith) and his hard-drinking neighbor (John Hurt) learn about bravery and death through their friendship. (Banner Releasing)

Clockwatchers. Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow, Toni Collette and Alanna Ubach are credit firm temp workers whose bond is threatened by a new arrival. (BMG Independents)

Clubland. Record producer-songwriter Glen Ballard turns film producer-screenwriter with the story of a band trying to crash the turbulent L.A. scene. (Intrepid Entrertainment)

A Cool, Dry Place. Vince Vaughn (“Swingers”) plays a lawyer who must suddenly deal with single fatherhood. (Fox)

Cube. It’s a maze that confines six people who must collaborate to escape in this psychological thriller. (Trimark)

Dancer, Texas Pop. 81. Four lifelong pals have vowed to leave their tiny town together when they graduate. Now it’s time to put up or shut up. (TriStar)

Dead Man on Campus. Tom Everett Scott (“That Thing You Do”!) stars as a party-minded college freshman who pins his hopes of passing on an arcane loophole in the school’s charter. (Paramount)

The Deedles. They are two young brothers and rookie rangers in Yellowstone, where they discover a scheme to shut down Old Faithful. (Walt Disney)

Deep Impact. Robert Duvall, Tea Leoni, Elijah Wood, Vanessa Redgrave, Maximilian Schell and Morgan Freeman enact three parallel stories that unfold as a comet hurtles toward Earth. Mimi Leder directs. (Paramount)

Deja Vu. Henry Jaglom’s latest concerns the mysterious attraction between an American woman and an English painter in the coastal town of Dover. Victoria Foyt, Stephen Dillane and Vanessa Redgrave star. (Rainbow Film Co.)

Dirty Work. “Saturday Night Live” alum Norm McDonald co-wrote and joins a cast that includes Chevy Chase and Artie Lange in a comedy about a revenge-for-hire enterprise. Bob Saget directs. (MGM)

Eaters of the Dead. Emissary Antonio Banderas joins a band of Vikings in combat against some omnivorous critters. (Touchstone)

Eden. Joanna Going plays a woman with multiple sclerosis whose out-of-body experiences bring her to a difficult point of decision. (Legacy Releasing)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Altered states should prevail in the match of co-writer and director Terry Gilliam and source author Hunter S. Thompson, who is portrayed by Johnny Depp. (Universal)

Fireworks (Hana-Bi). Takeshi Kitano plays an ex-police detective in his latest action thriller. (Milestone)

First Love, Last Rites. Director Jesse Peretz sets his exploration of first love in the steamy bayou country of Louisiana. (Strand)

Follow the Bitch. The ritual of a weekly poker game is threatened by one regular’s engagement and the arrival of a new player--a woman. (Gurney Releasing)

A Friend of the Deceased. Unable to cope with the fallout of post-communist freedoms, a Kiev academic hires a hit man to end it all for him. When he changes his mind, trouble ensues. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Go Now. Robert Carlyle (“The Full Monty”) plays a Scotsman whose contented life of work, soccer and romance is suddenly threatened. Michael Winterbottom (“Welcome to Sarajevo”) directs. (Gramercy)

Grease. New prints and digitally enhanced sound mark the 20th anniversary of the musical’s release. (Paramount)

Grey Gardens. Reissue of the Maysles brothers’ 1976 visit with Jacqueline Kennedy’s eccentric aunt and cousin, self-isolated in a dilapidated mansion for 2 1/2 decades. (Rialto Pictures)

The Hanging Garden. Chris Leavins plays a gay man who returns to his family in Nova Scotia after 10 years and finds them more dysfunctional than ever. (Goldwyn Films)

Hard Core Logo. A legendary Vancouver punk band undertakes a reunion tour that brings its members up against some hard truths. (Rolling Thunder)

He Got Game. In Spike Lee’s drama, a coveted high school basketball star’s (Ray Allen) moment of decision is complicated by his parolee father (Denzel Washington), who has an agenda of his own. (Hollywood)

Home Fries. An eccentric mother, two brothers and the woman the boys are obsessed with are the principals in an offbeat comedy starring Drew Barrymore. (Warner Bros.)

Honey and Ashes. Swiss director Nadia Fares examines North African culture through the story of three women whose lives intersect. (Seventh Art)

Hope Floats. Forest Whitaker directs Sandra Bullock as a single mom coping with turmoil when she returns to her Texas hometown and her own mom, Gena Rowlands. (Fox)

The Horse Whisperer. Director Robert Redford plays a Montana man who communes with troubled steeds. He becomes involved with big-city editor Kristin Scott Thomas, her daughter and their horse. (Touchstone)

Hush. Jonathan Darby wrote and directs this thriller about a city girl (Gwyneth Paltrow) whose move to her new husband’s country estate is complicated by her vengeful mother-in-law (Jessica Lange). (TriStar)

In God’s Hands. Zalman King directs the story of a surfer (Shane Dorian) determined to ride the same 40-foot wave that killed his friend. (Triumph)

I Think I Do. Writer-director Brian Sloan injects gay plot elements into the traditional complications of his ‘30s-style screwball comedy. (Strand)

Junk Mail. A mess of a mailman (Robert Skaerstand) gets in over his head when he becomes entangled with a woman (Andrine Saether). (Cinepix)

Keep the Aspidistra Flying. In 1930s London, Helena Bonham Carter longs for middle-class respectability while her eccentric boyfriend, Richard E. Grant, wants to write poetry and taste freedom. (First Look)

Kissing a Fool. “Friends” star David Schwimmer asks his best buddy to test his fiancee’s fidelity in this romantic comedy. (Universal)

Land Girls. They’re the young women who volunteer to replace English farm workers who have gone to fight in World War II. Their romances involve both local farmers and airmen stationed at a nearby base. (Gramercy)

La Sentinelle. A mysterious shrunken head is at the center of the intrigue in French director Arnold Desplechin’s Cold War allegory. (Strand)

The Last Days of Disco. Those days are experienced by a group of club-going college graduates in Manhattan. Whit Stillman (“Metropolitan”) directs. (PolyGram)

Lawn Dogs. Poet and playwright Naomi Wallace’s drama about a 10-year-old girl and the young man who mows her lawn in an affluent Kentucky suburb. (Strand)

Leather Jacket Love Story. Silver Lake’s bohemian scene is the setting in which a construction worker and a teenage poet from the Valley play out their relationship. (Goldeco Pictures)

Little Boy Blue. A Texas adolescent (Ryan Phillippe) is trapped in twisted games orchestrated by his father. John Savage and Nastassja Kinski co-star. (Castle Hill)

Lost in Space. Gary Oldman, William Hurt, Matt LeBlanc and Mimi Rogers head the cast in this wide-screen spinoff of the ‘60s TV adventure series. (New Line)

Love and Death on Long Island. Highbrow novelist John Hurt falls for teen idol Jason Priestley, triggering a comedic collision of cultures. (Cinepix)

Major League: Back to the Minors. The series’ third delivery finds pitcher Scott Bakula reviving a sad-sack Triple A team. (Warner Bros.)

The Man in the Iron Mask. “Braveheart” screenwriter Randall Wallace’s directorial debut is a new telling of Dumas’ classic starring Leonardo DiCaprio and including the Three Musketeers (Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich and Gerard Depardieu). (United Artists)

Martha Meet Frank, Danie and Laurence. Rufus Sewell, Tom Hollander and Joseph Fiennes form an odd trio of longtime friends who clash when Monica Potter turns up. (Miramax)

Men With Guns. In John Sayles’ latest, a doctor’s journey into the Latin American countryside brings him into contact with harsh political realities. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Mercury Rising. Bruce Willis is a disillusioned FBI agent protecting an autistic savant, with Alec Baldwin as a national security agent. (Universal)

The Mighty. Two young outcasts team up with comedic and inspirational results. The cast includes Sharon Stone, Kieran Culkin and Gillian Anderson. (Miramax)

The Mother and the Whore. A new print and improved subtitles distinguish a re-release of Jean Eustache’s 1973 anatomy of some Parisian sexual escapades. (Artificial Eye)

Mr. Nice Guy. Jackie Chan, playing a famed chef, ups the action count, logging nine fight scenes. (New Line)

Music From Another Room. Jude Law becomes involved with an eccentric family (including Brenda Blethyn as the mother) when he returns to his hometown to consummate what he believes is a fated romance. (MGM)

My Giant. Talent agent Billy Crystal encounters a towering Romanian (pro basketball player Gheorghe Muresan) and sees a path to the big time. (Columbia)

Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple II. Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau resurrect Felix and Oscar, reunited in a rental car on the roads of California. (Paramount).

The Newton Boys. Richard Linklater directs a cast headed by Matthew McConaughey in the story of the 1920s bank-robbing brothers. (Fox)

Nights of Cabiria. Reissue of Fellini’s 1957 best foreign film Oscar-winner about a Roman prostitute (Giulette Masina). (Rialto Pictures)

Nightwatch. Ewan McGregor is a law student whose job as the morgue watchman leads to an uncomfortable entanglement with a serial killer. Steven Soderbergh scripted. (Dimension)

No Looking Back. Lauren Holly is torn between boyfriend Jon Bon Jovi and old flame Edward Burns, who’s returned to their small town and stirred up her memories. Burns (“The Brothers McMullen”) also directs. (Gramercy)

The Object of My Affection. A pregnant woman (Jennifer Aniston) wants to raise her child with her gay best friend rather than the baby’s father. Wendy Wasserstein’s script is based on Stephen McCauley’s novel. (Fox)

The Opposite of Sex. Christina Ricci as a troubled teen who moves in with her half brother and wreaks havoc with everyone she encounters--including Lisa Kudrow and Lyle Lovett. (TriStar)

Paulie. This parrot can do more than talk--he can understand what he’s saying. Gena Rowlands and Buddy Hackett are among the human cast. (DreamWorks)

Player’s Club. L.A. rap pioneer Ice Cube writes and directs a story set behind the scenes at a small-time “gentlemen’s club.” (New Line)

Post Coitum. Brigette Rouan co-wrote, directs and stars as a woman in her 40s whose contented life is upended by a passionate love affair. (New Yorker Films)

A Price Above Rubies. Renee Zellweger is torn between her role as wife and mother in an Orthodox Jewish community and her career in jewelry--not to mention some buried passions. (Miramax)

Primary Colors. Mike Nichols directs a cast led by John Travolta and Emma Thompson as the aspiring first couple in the film version of the cause celebre roman a clef. (Universal)

The Proposition. When Boston aristocrats William Hurt and Madeleine Stowe engage a surrogate father, they trigger a chain of events leading to murder and scandal. (PolyGram)

Resurrection Man. A journalist sets his sights on a ruthless killer with a fondness for emulating ’30 gangsters. (Gramercy)

Shooting Fish. The complex schemes of two good-hearted swindlers are further complicated by the arrival on the scene of an attractive woman. (Fox Searchlight)

Sonatine. Writer-director-editor-star Takeshi Kitano plays a hard-boiled gangster who sets off fireworks when he travels to Okinawa. (Rolling Thunder)

Sour Grapes. “Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David wrote and directs this comedy about two cousins who hit the jackpot in Atlantic City. (Columbia)

Spanish Prisoner. David Mamet’s thriller stars Campbell Scott as a man at the center of an elaborate confidence game. Steve Martin, Rebecca Pidgeon, Ricky Jay and Ben Gazzara help supply the twists. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Still Breathing. Hollywood’s Formosa Cafe (“Swingers,” “L.A. Confidential”) is a key setting as con artist Joanna Going mistakes eccentric street performer Brendan Fraser for her wealthy mark. (October Films)

Suicide Kings. Christopher Walken as a mobster who is abducted by a group of youths trying to solve a friend’s kidnapping. (LIVE Entertainment)

Talk of Angels. Political and sexual passions boil over for an Irish governess (Polly Walker) and the son (Vincent Perez) of an aristocratic family in Spain on the brink of civil war. (Miramax)

Things I Never Told You. A cast of dysfunctional characters, headed by Andrew McCarthy and Lili Taylor, conducts rituals of deception and seduction. (Seventh Art)

3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain. The title trio teams with Hulk Hogan to liberate an amusement park from the clutches of evil bandit queen Loni Anderson. (TriStar)

The Truce. John Turturro portrays a man returning from Auschwitz to his home in Italy and struggling to regain his humanity. Based on Primo Levi’s memoir “The Reawakening.” (Miramax)

Twentyfourseven. Bob Hoskins mounts a heroic effort to salvage his hometown’s dissolute youth by starting a boxing club. (October Films)

Two Girls and a Guy. Writer-director James Toback looks at modern relationships through the prism of a philanderer (Robert Downey Jr.) whose two girlfriends accidentally meet. (Fox Searchlight)

Untitled Agnes Merlet. The French writer-director’s study of a rebellious 17th century girl whose aesthetic education mingles with eroticism was titled “Artemisia” at last year’s L.A. International Film Festival. (Miramax)

U.S. Marshals. Tommy Lee Jones revives his “Fugitive” character, Sam Gerard, who teams with Robert Downey Jr. in pursuit of terrorist Wesley Snipes. (Warner Bros.)

Voyage to the Beginning of the World. Portugal’s Manoel de Oliveira directs Marcello Mastroianni in his final screen role, as a movie director on an odyssey of self-discovery. (Strand)

Welcome to Woop Woop. “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” director Stephan Elliott returns to the outback, where an isolated town is ruled by Rodgers & Hammerstein aficionado Daddy-O (Rod Taylor). (Goldwyn Films)

Wide Awake. Dana Delany, Denis Leary and Rosie O’Donnell participate in a 10-year-old boy’s search for meaning after the death of his grandfather. Newcomer Joseph Cross plays the boy. (Miramax)

Wild Man Blues. Barbara Kopple directs a documentary about a New Orleans-style jazz band’s tour of Europe, focusing on one member--clarinetist Woody Allen, who allows a rare glimpse into his personal life. (Fine Line)

Wild Things. Florida’s swamps and yachting waters are the setting for an erotic thriller featuring Kevin Bacon, Matt Dillon, Neve Campbell, Bill Murray and Theresa Russell. (Columbia)

Without Limits. Writer-director Robert Towne’s bio of maverick long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine. (Warner Bros.)

Woo. “Party Girl’s” Daisy von Scherler Mayer directs as beautiful heartbreaker Jada Pinkett and strait-laced attorney Tommy Davidson embark on an eventful blind date. (New Line)

Wrongfully Accused. That would be violinist Leslie Nielsen, who must evade capture while pursuing the real killer, a one-armed, one-legged man. The “Fugitive” spoof comes from writer-producer-director Pat Proft, creator of “Police Academy.” (Warner Bros.)

Summer

American History X. Edward Norton, Edward Furlong and Fairuza Balk in a drama about a man dealing with the consequences of bigotry and violence. (New Line)

Armageddon. NASA chief Billy Bob Thornton helps send oil driller Bruce Willis into space, where he and his team must destroy an Earth-bound asteroid. (Touchstone)

The Avengers. Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman play John Steed and Emma Peel, aligned against diabolical scientist Sean Connery in this adaptation of the ‘60s TV spy series. (Warner Bros.)

BASEketball. “Airplane!” and “Naked Gun” director David Zucker directs Comedy Central’s “South Coast” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone in this skewering of sports. (Universal)

Blade. Wesley Snipes plays the title character, a half-human, half-vampire immortal dedicated to saving humanity from the bloodsuckers. (New Line)

The Children of Heaven. Iranian writer-director Majid Majidi’s story of a poverty-stricken brother and sister in Tehran won the Grand Prix of the Americas prize at last year’s Montreal World Film Festival. (Miramax)

Clay Pigeons. Montana gas jockey Joaquin Phoenix’s affair with his best friend’s wife triggers a murder frame-up. Ridley Scott protege David Dobkins makes his directorial debut. (Gramercy)

Cousin Bette. Jessica Lange and Elisabeth Shue co-star in this adaptation of the Balzac novel. Former La Jolla Playhouse artistic director Des McAnuff directs his first film. (Fox Searchlight)

Dance With Me. Vanessa L. Williams and pop heartthrob Chayenne are dancers who play out their romance to a Latin beat. Randa Haines directs. (Columbia)

Disturbing Behavior. Frequent “X-Files” director David Nutter teams with “Con Air” screenwriter Scott Rosenberg in a thriller about a small town’s solution to teenage rebellion. (MGM)

Dobermann. Screenwriter Joel Houssin adapted his series of “Dobermann” novels for this crime thriller about a ruthless band of gangsters. (Miramax)

Doctor Dolittle. Eddie Murphy succeeds Rex Harrison as the physician who talks to the animals. The director is Betty Thomas (“The Brady Bunch Movie”). (Fox)

East Palace, West Palace. Writer-director Zhang Yuan’s drama seeks to debunk the Chinese government’s assertion that homosexuals (along with thieves and prostitutes) no longer exist in the country. (Strand)

54. The glamour and decadence of the fabled disco Studio 54 are seen through the eyes of bartender Ryan Phillippe. Mike Meyers plays the man who signs his checks, club owner Steve Rubell. (Miramax)

Firelight. Writer-director William Nicholson’s romantic drama about a governess (Sophie Marceau) who secretly bears the child of a landowner (Stephen Dillane). (Miramax)

Geneologies of a Crime. Catherine Deneuve is a psychoanalyst whose fascination with what she sees as her nephew’s homicidal tendencies has tragic consequences. (Strand)

Godzilla. Thirty years after totaling Tokyo, the destructive dinosaur sets his sights on New York, courtesy of the folks who brought you “Independence Day.” (TriStar)

The Governess. Minnie Driver plays a Jewish nanny in pre-Victorian England who becomes involved in her employer’s invention of photographic images. (Sony Pictures Classics)

Hav Plenty. New Year’s weekend and two mismatched people add up to a look at love in the ‘90s in writer-director and co-star Christopher Cherot’s film. (Miramax)

Holy Man. Eddie Murphy plays a televangelist who links his crusade to a home-shopping channel. Jeff Goldblum and Kelly Preston co-star. (Touchstone)

How Stella Got Her Groove Back. A fortysomething woman (Angela Bassett) vacations in Jamaica, where sparks fly with a man half her age. Based on the book by Terry McMillan. (Fox)

Jane Austen’s Mafia! Director and co-writer Jim Abrahams brings his parodic touch to the saga of an organized crime family headed by Lloyd Bridges. (Touchstone)

Lethal Weapon 4. New detective Chris Rock makes three when he joins Mel Gibson and Danny Glover to combat an Asian crime family in L.A. Director Richard Donner also returns. (Warner Bros.)

Madeline. Hatty Jones takes the title role and Frances McDormand plays Miss Clavel in the screen version of Ludwig Bemelman’s classic children’s books about a Paris schoolgirl. (TriStar)

Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember. The documentary is based on interviews with the cinema icon, conducted near the end of his life in 1996 by his longtime companion, director Anna Marie Tato. (First Look)

Marie Baie des Anges. The love of two young free spirits struggles to survive the cruel realities of the world that surrounds them. (Sony Pictures Classics)

The Mask of Zorro. Original Zorro Anthony Hopkins grooms troubled drifter Antonio Banderas to take over the gig, which involves toppling a tyrant. (TriStar)

Mighty Joe Young. The big ape goes to Los Angeles in this update of the 1949 saga. (Walt Disney)

Mulan. Disney’s 36th animated feature, about the legend of a young Chinese girl who sneaks into the army to save her father and her country. (Walt Disney)

My Life So Far. This memoir of an unusual family is produced by David Puttnam, directed by Hugh Hudson and features Colin Firth, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Malcolm McDowell. (Miramax)

My Son the Fanatic. Culture clashes and generation gaps spark this comedy involving a cabdriver, his suddenly religious son, a prostitute and a German businessman. (Miramax)

A Night at the Roxbury. That’s the goal of the Butabi brothers (Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan), but the doormen at the trendy Hollywood club stand in their way in this adaptation of the “Saturday Night Live” sketch. (Paramount)

Orgazmo. Trey Parker, creator of Comedy Central’s “South Park” series, wrote, directed and stars as a pious Mormon-turned-porn star who must rescue his kidnapped girlfriend. (October Films)

Out of Sight. Screenwriter Scott Frank follows “Get Shorty” with another Elmore Leonard adaptation, about prison escapee George Clooney and hostage Jennifer Lopez. Directed by Steven Soderbergh. (Universal)

The Party. It’s held after the graduation and is the scene of a series of encounters and challenges as the kids face the unknown future. (Columbia)

Passion in the Desert. Based on the Balzac story about a French army officer’s sojourn in the exotic sands of Egypt. (Fine Line)

Payback. Mel Gibson is relentless in his pursuit of the man who stole his money and left him for dead. First-time director Brian Helgeland wrote “Conspiracy Theory” and co-wrote “L.A. Confidential.” (Paramount)

Pecker. John Waters, the tastemaker of tastelessness, writes and directs the saga of a sandwich shop worker who suddenly becomes an art-world star. (Fine Line)

Polish Wedding. Claire Danes, the sensuous young daughter of Gabriel Byrne and Lena Olin, follows lusty family tradition when she embarks on her romantic escapades. (Fox Searchlight)

Quest for Camelot. Warner Bros. Feature Animation follows “Space Jam” with its first fully animated film, an adventure set in Arthurian England. (Warner Bros.)

Saving Private Ryan. Steven Spielberg directs Tom Hanks in the story of a squadron that’s been mysteriously diverted on D-Day to rescue a missing paratrooper. (DreamWorks)

6 Days, 7 Nights. Gruff cargo pilot Harrison Ford and vacationing magazine editor Anne Heche are stranded on a tropical island in a romantic adventure directed by Ivan Reitman. (Touchstone)

Slums of Beverly Hills. Marisa Tomei, Alan Arkin, Natasha Lyonne and Carl Reiner in a story about coming of age in 1976 in the bad part of Beverly Hills. (Fox Searchlight)

Small Soldiers. Special effects Oscar-winner Stan Winston turns from the giants of “Jurassic Park” to the pint-sized commandos who battle monsters in this blend of live action and computer animation. Directed by Joe Dante. (DreamWorks)

Snake Eyes. Producer-director Brian De Palma and writer David Koepp follow “Mission: Impossible” with the story of Atlantic City police detective Nicolas Cage and the assassination of the secretary of defense. (Paramount)

Spanish Fly. Writer-director Daphna Kastner (“Julia Has Two Lovers”) plays an American journalist whose sojourn in Spain is marked by a series of frustrating relationship and a confrontation with her past. (Miramax)

Species II. Natasha Henstridge returns as the deadly alien-human seductress, cloned from the original’s DNA and making life miserable again for Michael Madsen and Marg Helgenberger. MGM)

Super Dave: The Movie. In his film debut, the deadpan daredevil (Bob Einstein) attempts to open a school for would-be fall guys. (MGM)

The Theory of Flight. Kenneth Branagh is the reluctant community-service caretaker of invalid Helena Bonham Carter, the victim of a vicious neuromuscular disease. (Fine Line)

The Truman Show. Peter Weir directs Jim Carrey as the unwitting subject of an around-the-clock TV documentary. (Paramount)

Under Heaven. “Wings of the Dove” inspired writer-director Meg Richman’s story of an opportunistic couple (Aden Young and Molly Parker) who care for a wealthy cancer victim. (Banner Releasing)

Untitled Cinderella Project. Drew Barrymore plays Cinderella and Anjelica Huston is the wicked stepmother in this telling of the fairy tale. (Fox Family Films)

Untitled Farrelly Brothers Film. “Dumb and Dumber” auteurs Bobby and Peter Farrelly direct a comedy about private eye Matt Dillon, client Ben Stiller and search object Cameron Diaz. (Fox)

Virus. Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Sutherland versus an alien life form that regards humans as a virus that must be eliminated. (Universal)

What Rats Won’t Do. Two lawyers engage in a battle of the sexes set in England’s eccentric legal system. (Gramercy)

The X-Files. The intrigue for Mulder and Scully centers on the bombing of a Dallas office building in a film that also serves as the culmination of the TV series’ season. (Fox)

Your Friends and Neighbors. Director Neil LaBute goes from the controversial “In the Company of Men” to an exploration of sexual mores in modern suburbia. (Gramercy)

Fall/Holiday

Assassin. Director Chen Kaige tells the story of a concubine (Gong Li) who falls in love with the man she’s hired to assassinate the Han king in 2nd century B.C. China. (Sony Pictures Classics)

At First Sight. When experimental surgery gives vision to the blind Val Kilmer, the adjustments and results are not what he and his loved ones expected. Irwin Winkler directs, based on a true story. (MGM)

Babe: Pig in the City. James Cromwell and Magda Szubanski return as the Hoggets, joined by Mickey Rooney in this sequel to the porcine blockbuster. (Universal)

Beloved. Jonathan Demme directs Oprah Winfrey as a former slave in this adaptation of Toni Morrison’s novel. (Touchstone)

The Breakers. Con women Anjelica Huston and Alicia Silverstone are a mother and daughter with a marry-for-money scheme. (United Artists)

A Bug’s Life. An ant organizes a squad of insects to save the colony from invading grasshoppers in Pixar/Disney’s theatrical follow-up to “Toy Story.” (Walt Disney)

Carrie II. Robert Mandel directs the sequel to the 1976 horror landmark. (United Artists)

A Civil Action. Small-time attorney John Travolta gets in over his head when he greedily takes on a case that leads in unexpected directions. Steven Zaillian directs. (Touchstone)

Condo Painting. The last recorded interviews with Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs are part of this documentary on New York artist George Condo. (October Films)

Dancing at Lughnasa. Meryl Streep is part of a close-knit Irish clan whose secrets begin to break through as Europe reaches the brink of upheaval in 1936. (Sony Pictures Classics)

The Deep End of the Ocean. Michelle Pfeiffer co-produced and stars in a story about a young boy’s abduction and its effect on his family. Directed by Ulu Grosbard. (Columbia)

Detroit 9000. Alex Rocco and Hari Rhodes are mismatched cops investigating a robbery that has escalated the Motor City’s racial tensions. (Rolling Thunder)

Elizabeth I. “Bandit Queen” director Shekhar Kapur helms this saga about the 16th century monarch (Cate Blanchett). (Gramercy)

Enemy of the State. National Security Agency official Jon Voight’s elaborate crime and cover-up ensnares attorney Will Smith, who’s framed for murder. Mysterious operative Gene Hackman is his only hope. Directed by Tony Scott. (Touchstone)

Esmeralda Comes by Night. Writer-director Jaime Humberto Hermosillo’s satire centers on a brazen bigamist (Maria Rojo) so charming that her current and future husbands rally to free her from detention. (Fine Line)

Eyes Wide Shut. Jealousy and sexual obsession are the themes in the much-discussed teaming of writer-director Stanley Kubrick with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, which has been filming since late 1996. (Warner Bros.)

Fool on the Hill. Jim Carrey fulfills his passion to be a disc jockey when he discovers an abandoned radio station at a mental institution. (MGM)

Goodbye Lover. Patricia Arquette, Ellen DeGeneres, Don Johnson, Dermot Mulroney and Mary-Louise Parker form a pattern of overlapping relationships in a thriller about a coveted insurance payoff. Roland Joffe directs. (Warner Bros.)

Gloria. Jeremy Northam plays the gangster and Sharon Stone takes the Gena Rowlands role in Sidney Lumet’s remake of John Cassavetes’ 1980 film about a woman and a boy who must team up to survive. (Columbia)

Hi-Lo Country. Stephen Frears (“The Grifters”) directs this study of two friends (Woody Harrelson and Billy Crudup) in the fading post-World War II American West. (Gramercy)

I’ll Be Home for Christmas. Jonathan Taylor Thomas must hitchhike across the country in a Santa get-up or lose the Porsche his dad has promised him. (Walt Disney)

The Impostors. Stanley Tucci follows his “Big Night” with the adventures of two actors who inadvertently stow away on a ship rife with intrigue. Tucci also stars, along with several other “Big Night” alumni. (Fox Searchlight)

Instinct. A psychiatrist probes for the profound secret in the mind of an anthropologist who is accused of a murderous attack after living with a family of gorillas. (Touchstone)

I Want You. Michael Winterbottom directs the story of an ex-convict in pursuit of his old girlfriend. (Gramercy)

The Kiss. Elevator operator Danny DeVito falls in love with divorcee Holly Hunter in a comedy written and directed by Richard LaGravenese, whose script credits include “The Fisher King.” (New Line)

The Legend of the Pianist on the Ocean. Abandoned at birth on a transatlantic ship, the seafaring musician (Tim Roth) grows up to engage in a monumental rivalry with Jelly Roll Morton (Clarence Williams III). (Fine Line)

The Matrix. Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne in a cyber-thriller about an insurgency against the computers that rule the world in the 22nd century. (Warner Bros.)

Meet Joe Black. If an otherworldly creature is going to take human form, he might as well pick Brad Pitt’s. While on Earth, he falls in love with Anthony Hopkins’ daughter Claire Forlani. (Universal)

Message in a Bottle. It was written by widowed shipbuilder Kevin Costner, and it’s discovered by a lonely woman. (Warner Bros.)

Molly. An autistic woman (Elisabeth Shue) is transformed into a genius by a medical treatment. John Duigan directs. (MGM)

The Mummy. In this reinvention of the classic horror genre, Alison Elliot connects with her Irish roots, which lead to an evil family secret. (Trimark)

My Favorite Martian. Jeff Daniels and Christopher Lloyd are earthling and alien, respectively, in this adaptation of the ‘60s TV series. Donald Petrie directs. (Walt Disney)

The Naked Man. Director J. Todd Anderson teamed with Ethan Coen on the script, about a wrestling chiropractor who faces off against an evil pharmaceutical kingpin. (October Films)

The Negotiator. F. Gary Gray directs Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey as Chicago police hostage negotiators enmeshed in a frame-up. (Warner Bros.)

One Man’s Hero. Tom Berenger, Joaquim de Almeida, Daniela Romo and Patrick Bergen in an adventure about the St. Patrick Battalion, which fought alongside Pancho Villa. (MGM)

One True Thing. Anna Quindlen’s novel is the basis for this story about a woman (Renee Zellweger) helping her parents (Meryl Streep and John Hurt) through a crisis. Carl Franklin directs. (Universal)

The Other Sister. Mentally challenged daughter Juliette Lewis returns home and disrupts the tranquil life of parents Diane Keaton and Tom Skerritt in a Garry Marshall-directed romantic comedy. (Touchstone)

The Parent Trap. Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson and Lindsay Lohan star in this remake of the Disney comedy about reunited twins trying to get their folks back together. (Walt Disney)

Patch Adams. Robin Williams teams with the “Nutty Professor” writing-directing team of Steve Oederkerk and Tom Shadyac in the true story of an unconventional but inspirational medical student. (Universal)

A Perfect Murder. Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow and Viggo Mortensen play cat-and-mouse when a man hires a killer to dispatch his unfaithful wife--and he happens to be her lover. Andrew Davis directs. (Warner Bros.)

Pleasantville. Two teens take ‘90s ‘tude back to the ‘50s when they’re mysteriously trapped in a black-and-white world. Director Gary Ross’ comedy stars Joan Allen, William H. Macy and Jeff Daniels. (New Line)

Practical Magic. Executive producer Sandra Bullock stars and Griffin Dunne directs this version of Alice Hoffman’s novel about two New England sisters with a gift for guiding fate. (Warner Bros.)

The Prince of Egypt. Stephen Schwartz’s songs and the voices of Sandra Bullock, Steve Martin, Michelle Pfeiffer and Jeff Goldblum are some of the attractions in this animated telling of the story of Moses. (DreamWorks)

Plunkett and Macleane. Robert Carlyle (“The Full Monty”) and Jonny Lee Miller portray the notorious and charismatic 18th century English highwaymen. (Gramercy)

Ronin. John Frankenheimer directs Robert De Niro and Stellan Skarsgard in an action story about an intelligence team and a dangerous mission. (United Artists)

The Rugrats Movie. The Nickelodeon animated series jumps to the big screen with a story centered on the birth of Tommy Pickles’ brother, Dil. (Paramount)

Rush Hour. Havoc ensues when rogue LAPD detective Chris Tucker is assigned to keep Hong Kong cop Jackie Chan away from the FBI investigation of the kidnapping of the Chinese consul’s daughter. (New Line)

Rushmore. A 15-year-old student at elite Rushmore Academy falls for a teacher in this Bill Murray comedy-drama. (Touchstone)

A Simple Plan. Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton star in screenwriter Scott Smith’s adaptation of his own novel about two men who steal $4.4 million from a downed airplane. (Paramount)

A Small Miracle. Undersized Simon (Ian Smith) has defied doctors’ predictions of his demise, but now a crisis challenges his child’s faith that he has a purpose. (Hollywood)

Snow Falling on Cedars. Director Scott Hicks follows “Shine” with an adaptation of David Guterson’s acclaimed novel set in a Northwest island community in the 1950s, with telling flashbacks to World War II. (Universal)

Soldier. Obsolete galactic warrior Kurt Russell defends a group of colonists on a remote planet. (Warner Bros.)

A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries. The Merchant Ivory team adapted the memoirs of Kaylie Jones about life in Paris with her expatriate novelist father James Jones. Kris Kristofferson and Barbara Hershey star. (October Films)

The Thin Red Line. Terrence Malick returns as writer-director of a star-studded adaptation of James Jones’ novel about Guadalcanal. (Fox 2000)

Three Seasons. Harvey Keitel stars in a look at people adjusting to life in postwar Vietnam. Director Tony Bui’s film is the first American feature to complete production in that country since the war. (October Films)

Untitled Chris Columbus Film. Ed Harris’ ex-wife, Susan Sarandon, and his current girlfriend, Julia Roberts, develop an unusual friendship revolving around the marriage’s children. (TriStar)

Untitled Edward Zwick Film. The director and Denzel Washington follow “Glory” and “Courage Under Fire” with the story of an FBI agent battling terrorists who are bombing New York. (Fox)

Untitled Jonathan Kaplan Film. Bill Pullman plays a lawyer who comes to the aid of two teenage girls imprisoned in Thailand. (Fox 2000)

Untitled Mike Barker Film. Allesandro Nivola plays a man drawn into a vortex of crime when he looks for a way out of his dead-end town. (Fox 2000)

Untitled Mike Judge Film. “Beavis and Butt-head’s” creator goes live action with a look at Gen-X’ers trying to cope with corporate life. (Fox)

Untitled Mike Newell Film. John Cusack stars as an air traffic controller in director Mike Newell’s look at intense rivalry and high pressure. (Fox 2000)

Untitled Milcho Manchevski Film. Guy Pearce (“L.A. Confidential”) is a soldier stalked by a cannibalistic pursuer in the snowbound Sierra. (Fox 2000)

Untitled Neil Jordan Film. Killer Robert Downey Jr. invades the dreams of the psychically attuned Annette Bening. (DreamWorks)

Untitled Sean Connery Film. Connery plays a globe-trotting master thief who falls in love with his greatest rival. (Fox)

Untitled “Star Trek” Film. Patrick Stewart returns and Jonathan Frakes directs the ninth entry in the enduring franchise. (Paramount).

Untitled Todd Solondz Film. Ben Gazzara, Marla Maples and Lara Flynn Boyle star for the director, who follows “Welcome to the Dollhouse” with another look at troubled lives--this time of the adult variety. (October Films)

Velvet Goldmine. Michael Stipe is a co-executive producer of writer-director Todd Haynes’ film about a glam-rock icon, portrayed by Jonathan Rhys Meyers. (Miramax)

Waking Ned. The British comedy concerns the uproar in a small town when an unknown resident wins the lottery. (First Look)

Water Boy. Adam Sandler as an inept football team attendant who is found to have an uncanny knack for tackling. (Touchstone)

Why Do Fools Fall in Love? R&B; singer Frankie Lymon’s tragic life is illuminated through the story of three women (Halle Berry, Vivica A. Fox and Lela Rochon) who claim to be his legal widow. Gregory Nava directs. (Warner Bros.)

You Have Mail. “Sleepless in Seattle’s” production and acting team reconvenes, with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as enemies who unknowingly fall in love through their e-mail exchanges. (Warner Bros.)

Season to Be Announced

Merchants of Venus. An eclectic cast including Michael York, Troy Donahue, Michael J. Pollard and Erasure’s Andy Bell in writer-director Len Richmond’s romantic comedy about a Russian immigrant and a lonely porn star. (Pursuit of Happiness)

SNEAKS ’98 EXECUTIVE FILM EDITOR: Anne Hurley

CAPSULES BY: Richard Cromelin

RESEARCH BY: Kathleen Craughwell