A Season of Animal Antics

This summer, Hollywood is going to the dogs . . . and cats . . . and beavers . . . and bears . . . and apes. If you haven’t noticed, there are just about as many furry creatures on the big screen these days as human ones--and we don’t mean Tom Hanks in “Cast Away.”

Francis (the Talking Mule) would be proud.

If you don’t count comedian Rob Schneider, who plays a human who thinks he’s part of the animal kingdom in “The Animal,” there are three other films coming out this summer in which creatures of every kind speak English.

On Friday, Eddie Murphy stars as the doctor who can talk to animals in “Dr. Dolittle 2,” the 20th Century Fox sequel to his hit 1998 film that grossed more than $290 million worldwide.

On the Fourth of July holiday, Warner Bros. will roll out “Cats & Dogs,” a comic look at the top-secret, high-tech espionage war going on between cats and dogs, of which their human owners are blissfully unaware. As with “Dr. Dolittle 2,” the film combines old-fashioned live action with computer-generated effects to give each animal a unique personality.

Then on July 27, Fox will release “Planet of the Apes,” director Tim Burton’s new take on the classic tale of a strange planet where talking apes rule over the human race.

“I don’t think it was calculated that this summer would have all these films about talking animals,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. “It just sort of turned out that way.

“I think with the technology today, Hollywood is able to make animals look like they can actually talk. It’s not just getting the lips to move, like ‘Mr. Ed.’ ”

And, Dergarabedian notes, some animal movies do enormously well at the box office. “101 Dalmatians” grossed $136.2 million in North America, and its sequel, “102 Dalmatians,” did $67 million.

The barnyard fable “Babe” pulled in $63.7 million, although its sequel, “Babe: Pig in the City,” flopped with only $18.3 million.

Quips Dergarabedian: “Maybe they’ll make a third film and call it ‘Babe: The Bacon Years.’ ”

The State of Gay Hollywood

Does the proliferation of gay and lesbian characters on television reflect wholesale acceptance within the entertainment industry? Not quite, according to “MSNBC Reports: Gay Hollywood Comes Out,” a documentary airing tonight at 7 on the all-news cable network.

Hosted by Forrest Sawyer, the program notes that while gays have made highly visible strides in movies and TV shows--both in front of and behind the camera--many gay performers still feel compelled to stay secretive about their lives for fear it will damage their careers.

Part of the discussion focuses on whether the media should maintain those secrets or reveal them in the name of the public’s right--or at least desire--to have them exposed.

“I don’t know what drama is lacking in people’s lives that they have to know who somebody is sleeping with,” says Sean Hayes, an Emmy winner for his role as a flamboyantly gay character on NBC’s “Will & Grace,” who chooses not to discuss his sexual orientation.

While the program cites expanded tolerance of gay images, then--with examples ranging from a gay teen on “Dawson’s Creek” to Showtime’s explicit “Queer as Folk”--the conclusion appears to be that, for all the gains, various forces still prevent the title of the program from being entirely accurate.

Who Counted Out Pennywise?

Pop-punk band Pennywise has made it no secret that it has a problem with authority, and now it looks like authority has a problem with Pennywise.

The Hermosa Beach-spawned band was to perform Tuesday in the parking lot of Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard, but store and West Hollywood officials have pulled the plug.

The reason? City offices were closed Friday, so official explanation was unavailable, but the band issued a press release saying the City Council sent word that the band’s new song, whose two-word title hurls an epithet at authority, is “offensive and cannot be performed on their city streets.”

But Tower says the cancellation was prompted more by rowdiness at the band’s Key Club show last week. “It got kind of ugly. There was stage diving and craziness and not enough security,” says Laurie Miller, office manager at Tower regional offices. Sunset store manager Jay Smith said the store and city were on the same page with safety as priority.

The band and its handlers dispute the account of Key Club chaos, but, either way, the outdoor show is no longer an option. Tower had announced that anyone buying the new Pennywise CD would get a wristband for the 3:30 p.m. show and that plan still holds, except now the performance will be down the street in the House of Blues, where a permit isn’t needed.

Pennywise guitarist Fletcher Dragge said the situation is adding extra meaning to the band’s new album title: “Land of the Free?” “We live in a city where the cops are on trial for framing people, shooting people and robbing banks, and they think we’re the ones that pose a problem. It’s ridiculous.”

--Compiled by Times staff writers