Now, for a Little Variety . . . : Tired of the ear-shattering, eye-popping special effects? Amid the high-profile films, the little guys can prosper too.

Big-budget, broad-appeal summer movies attract the bulk of the media attention and earn the highest opening-week box-office figures, but the season has actually opened up for alternative fare in recent years. This has happened for a number of reasons, among them the fact that there are still people hungry for films that offer more than effects and explosions, and more theaters are willing to book those pictures.

Such specialized movies as “Ulee’s Gold,” “Il Postino,” “Lone Star,” “Welcome to the Dollhouse,” “Mrs. Brown,” “The Opposite of Sex” and “The Spanish Prisoner” have all done well during summer months. Once a season where smaller distributors feared to tread, this summer is packed with specialized films of every stripe. Fall (or spring) used to be the traditional safe havens for these movies, but that has changed. With major movies now flooding theaters throughout the year, specialized distributors no longer have a period they can truly call their own. They’ve had to learn how to compete by squeezing into a market dominated by blockbusters.

One way has been to lay claim on the late summer period. High-profile films have successfully extended their reach to late July and early August. But audiences, largely exhausted by a steady barrage of big effects and frenetic action, have seemed more willing to give so-called alternative fare a chance.

That strategy will continue this year. But some distributors have also adopted the practice of front-loading--jumping into the game at the beginning of summer along with the big guys, opening in the shadow of “Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace.” This is because, believe or not, there will be some moviegoers who are immune to the sci-fi spectacular’s siren call.

“Just as with the bigger films, audiences are available every night during summer,” reasons Lindsay Law, president of Fox Searchlight Pictures, which is joining the fray May 14 with a starry adaptation of “William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with Michelle Pfeiffer, Kevin Kline, Rupert Everett and Calista Flockhart.

Law figures that even “Star Wars” fans can’t all see just one movie over and over again (though there will be those who do) and there is increased interest these days in all things Shakespeare.

Another way of competing could be called dodging and end-running. Unlike big studio releases, which because of mass advertising require commitment to a particular opening date, those on the specialized circuit can afford to be more flexible about shifting their openings.

So if the wide-release films in the market prove particularly strong, they can nudge a film’s release back or forward a week or two. They can even slow down (or even speed up) the national roll-out without fear of incurring the wrath of theater owners or big-name promotional partners. Or if one of their own releases is doing particularly well, they can delay the release of their follow-up movies to maximize the successful film’s potential.

*

As with all movies these days, big or small, says John Hegeman, head of marketing for Artisan Films, each film must have the aura of an event. Otherwise, summer affords an excellent opportunity to launch into oblivion, given the depth and variety of movies being offered.

For the makers of specialized films, events come in all kinds of packages. Some build slowly through reviews and word of mouth from major urban markets like New York and Los Angeles, carving out a niche with a particular segment of the population, mostly sophisticated city and suburban audiences. Other films offer the kind of star power than enables them to break out wide relatively quickly.

In the former category is Bernardo Bertolucci’s latest effort, “Besieged.” Albert Brooks’ comedy “The Muse,” starring Sharon Stone and Brooks, is an example of the latter. The third alternative, and one that’s becoming increasingly popular, is a moderately wide opening in several major cities followed by a larger national roll-out. Significantly, specialized distributors are getting increasingly savvy in borrowing the studios’ time-tested marketing techniques (Miramax being the undisputed master), especially with genre movies that fit into the middle ground between studio films and art-house releases, according to Hegeman.

For example, Artisan’s summer release of the Sundance entry “The Blair Witch Project” has multiple trailers for different segments of the audience for the horror film.

“Blair Witch” has a book tie-in with Penguin. And Hegeman is also employing the Internet to sell the film. A “Blair Witch” Web site (https://www.blairwitch.com), which evolves from week to week, has already racked up 750,000 hits since its April 2 launch. It’s the perfect word-of-mouth location for horror film fans and will be further expanded through the film’s scheduled release July 16.

Betting on the type of success enjoyed by Miramax’s teen comedy “She’s All That” and Artisan’s recent low-budget urban niche comedy-drama “Foolish,” October Films will try for a May 12 release of its African American-geared comedy “Trippin’ ” (through its genre label Rogue Pictures), on 800 screens the week before “Star Wars.” “It was a conscious decision,” says October marketing head Dennis Rice.

Armed with a potentially strong hip-hop soundtrack, Rice expects “Trippin’ ” to tap his core audience and benefit from “Phantom Menace” spillover in its initial weeks as well as the expanded audience available over the Memorial Day weekend. “Kids have a tendency to see more than one movie,” says Rice, “and there’s very little good ethnic product out there.” As with last summer’s “The Opposite of Sex,” Sony Pictures Classics is gambling on the adult audience’s interest in libidinal themes with Mike Figgis’ “The Loss of Sexual Innocence,” which also premieres in late May.

“There’s clearly room for another film, especially one of this kind,” says Sony principal Michael Barker of the Figgis film. “I don’t believe that all the newspapers and weekly magazines want to cover just one movie.”

Sony Classics won’t be alone for the Memorial Day period. Fine Line Features will debut “Besieged,” the Oscar-winning Bertolucci’s latest, a romantic drama starring “Beloved’s” Thandie Newton and David Thewlis; and MGM will release the period drama “Tea With Mussolini,” featuring Cher, Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and Joan Plowright.

The attendance surge for “Star Wars” is expected to benefit all films, says Mark Ordesky, head of Fine Line Features, a philosophy his sister company New Line Cinema is flogging in its promotional spots for the “Austin Powers” sequel--if you see only two movies this summer, make them “Star Wars” and “The Spy Who Shagged Me.”

“Seeing a great, satisfying film of any genre,” Ordesky says, “puts you in the mood to see another movie. It’s positive reinforcement.”

*

The real summer crush of major studio releases won’t hit until late June/early July, when recess. With just one or two major titles coming out every week until then, that leaves some wiggle room for specialized titles. There’ll be typical art-house fare like Miramax’s “An Ideal Husband,” an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s drama with Oscar nominees Cate Blanchett, Minnie Driver and Jeremy Northam, who also appears in the early summer entry “The Winslow Boy,” from Sony Classics. (Miramax, perhaps realizing the crush, moved Wes Craven’s “Fifty Violins” with Meryl Streep out of summer altogether.)

Directed by David Mamet (his first G-rated picture) from Terence Rattigan’s stage drama, “The Winslow Boy” began a slow roll-out Friday, in a pattern similar to Mamet’s popular “The Spanish Prisoner,” which grossed more than $10 million last summer. Sony Classics will also debut the kinetic German thriller “Run Lola Run” in mid-June, its main competition being Francois Girard’s award-winning “The Red Violin,” almost half of which is in English.

“We’re not looking at that period as a challenge, but rather as an opportunity,” says Lions Gate principal Tom Ortenberg. “Not only has June proven to be a good play period for us, but the theaters we want to be in, both art houses and multiplexes that play upscale films, will be available.”

Artisan’s taking a chance on France’s largest-grossing film of 1998, “The Dinner Game,” a farce from writer-director Francis Veber. It’s about a group of friends, each of whom has to bring an idiot to dinner. (An American remake is already in the works, and there’s no truth to the rumor that it will be set in the U.S. Congress.)

Taking advantage of gay pride celebrations and gay and lesbian film festivals over the summer, Fine Line is releasing the provocative “Trick” in June, while Strand Releasing will be rolling out the romantic comedy “Edge of Seventeen,” which begins in June in New York and Los Angeles.

As a proven time frame for specialized fare, August will feature a number of films aimed at specific niche markets. They include Miramax’s Kevin Williamson dark comedy “Killing Mrs. Tingle,” which will occupy much the same spot the company’s “Halloween: H20” did last year, and Gramercy’s teen movie “Mad About Mambo” starring Keri Russell, the lead of TV’s “Felicity.”

Fox Searchlight is hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with the first film to explore the teen rap phenomenon as seen through the eyes of Midwestern “Whiteboys,” which Law describes as “very daring and very funny,” and it boasts a high-powered hip-hop soundtrack to boot. “In Too Deep,” a detective yarn with Omar Epps and LL Cool J, will also try to mine the young male urban audience.

For the slightly older college-age crowd and adults, there’ll be Wim Wenders’ musical documentary “The Buena Vista Social Club,” which will be specifically targeted to Cuban music enthusiasts and the Latino market in general. Sony Classics will have the edgy “Twin Falls, Idaho,” a tale of Siamese twins that will test the audience’s appetite for this kind of story. The Farrelly brothers are preparing a Siamese twins comedy for next year.

And speaking of the Farrellys, their semiautobiographical coming-of-age tale “Outside Providence” will be hitting theaters in late July/early August as well. Meanwhile, Jake Scott (son of Ridley, nephew of Tony) makes his feature directorial debut with the period adventure “Plunkett and Macleane,” starring Liv Tyler and Robert Carlyle.

Because specialized films usually play over a longer period, the late summer start also provides an excellent transition to fall and the roll-out of the year-end Oscar-qualifying films.