It Only Figures to Get Better for Santana

Carlos Santana will have to wait another 44 days to see if his career renaissance with the album “Supernatural” is capped with a Grammy night victory--but he’ll find out this week that just being nominated makes him a big winner at the nation’s cash registers. The news last week that the 52-year-old guitar wizard and the band that shares his name had earned 10 nominations for the album “Supernatural” will probably catapult the album back into the Top 5 on Wednesday when the new album charts are released, according to Tom O’Neil, author of “The Grammys.” “The boost he’ll get this week will not be as profound as the one he’ll get next month during the actual show, but just the news flash of the nominations will give him a boost,” O’Neil said. Indeed, Bob Bell, a music buyer for the Wherehouse chain, said “Supernatural” was expected to be the 600-store chain’s bestseller last week when the final sales figures are tallied. “We absolutely saw a midweek pop in the sales from the Grammy announcement, and we’re expecting the casual music buyers who saw the news during the week to give our Santana sales over the weekend a big boost.” Bell said his Torrance-based chain has enjoyed a lot of retail magic from “Supernatural”--it was the best-selling album of 1999 for the Wherehouse, edging out Limp Bizkit and the Backstreet Boys (“Supernatural” finished No. 6 on SoundScan’s year-end sales tally of the entire U.S. market). “It’s been a great success story for this album,” he said, “and, believe me, it’s going to get better next month.” And how much sales juice can Santana expect from the Grammy show Feb. 23? “Supernatural” has sold 4.7 million copies in the U.S. already, and O’Neil says it’s “guaranteed another million, and probably 2 million more” copies sold after the award show’s global showcase.

Freaks, Geeks and TV Schedule Makers

“Wasteland” washed out on ABC. “Manchester Prep” never even made it on the air at Fox. And this week will go a long way toward determining whether there’s a future for NBC’s “Freaks and Geeks,” another youth-oriented drama series launched this season as the major networks invaded terrain normally occupied by the WB. Focusing on a teenage brother and sister (John Daley and Linda Cardellini) in a Michigan high school circa 1980, “Freaks” opened to mostly positive reviews but, airing Saturdays at 8 p.m., soon found itself in detention hall as far as the ratings went. NBC yanked the show in November and relaunches it tonight in an hour where the bar has been set mercifully low in terms of expectations by “Suddenly Susan” and “Veronica’s Closet.” Still, the producers were concerned enough to write a “save our show” letter to the press, saying that if they do “fairly well” in their time-period debut, NBC has said it will order four more episodes. “So, we’ve got that going for us,” they noted. What they have going against them includes a popular WB teen show, “7th Heaven,” as well as ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” leaving some doubt as to where “Freaks and Geeks” will fit in.

‘Next Friday’ Comes Out on Wednesday

“Friday,” the little 1995 movie that raked in millions of dollars on video (1.3 million copies sold), is revisited this week in the form of “Next Friday.” On Wednesday, the Ice Cube-starring sequel will open with a larger theatrical release, up from the original’s 770 theaters to 1,100 nationwide. New Line Cinema is hoping this time around will be at least as successful as the first go-round, which scored a respectable box office but then far outperformed expectations on video. The first movie was on the video bestseller list for more than 100 straight weeks. “The success of the video is driving this picture,” said New Line distribution executive David Tuckerman. “This picture is going to reach a much broader audience [theatrically] than the first movie.” Not wanting to fiddle with a successful formula, New Line once again hired Cube to write, produce and direct the sequel. Cube’s character, Craig, has moved from the inner city to the suburbs, but still is unable to shake off his nemesis, Debo. New Line is taking a risk with new comic Mike Epps, who has replaced Chris Tucker as Cube’s sidekick. “Friday,” which cost $4 million, grossed a respectable $27 million at the box office in limited release. “Next Friday” was budgeted at $10 million. The release of the original “Friday” in theaters was hurt by an earlier rash of violent incidents associated with black urban films, which scared white audiences away. But those kinds of incidents are rare these days, making the possibility of crossover theatrical appeal more likely. “It’s five years later and I think the country has matured a little more,” Tuckerman said. “It’s a funny movie, so there is no reason why everyone shouldn’t go.”

--Compiled by Times Staff Writers