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Sci-Fi Rises Once Again'Stargate' is only one of a cornirug genre inuasion

By Frank Lovece

movies, both serious ("TheDay the Earth Stood Still")and frivolous ("Attack ofthe50 Ft. Woman"). The 1960swere barren, except for theoccasional "Fantastic Jour-ney" or "2001: A Space Od-yssey. " Then the late '70s ex-ploded with "Star Wars"and its countless imitators.

Yet, after the early 1980s,science-fi ction stopped beingcalled that in the theatricalmarket tthough remainingpopular in the direct-to'-vid-eo market). Generally, sci-fimovies like "The Termina-tor" and "The Road War-rior" are stocked in the ac-tion-adventure section ofvideo stores, and "JurassicPark," with its cloned dino-saurs, is still considered a

HEY'RE ba-aaack! body's calling it science-fiction," he says of his film, "but IScience-fiction movies, of the big-budget, big- Iook at it as just a unique drama."

effects variety, are, like westerns, suddenly back in "People are afraid that calling a movie 'science-fiction'the saddle. Even before "stargate's" record-break- may limit its audienee to a fringe group," observes veteraningdebut weekend in late October, there were three science-fiction producer Pen Densham, who with John Wat-

"family adventure fi1m." Even "Stargate" producer MarioKassar demurs when it comes to the term. "I know every-

books, now in developmentat Tri-Star with a script byplaywright David HenryHwang? Will it have atechno-cool industrial look,as in Kassar's planned "To-tal Recall II"? Orwill we lookback to the future, with di-rector Renny Harlin's re-make of "The Day the EarthCaught Fire"?

"We're at the beginning ofa cycle," says Densham."And whether you're talk-ing about making the moviesor just living life, we're goingthrough a renaissance andrediscovery of what we cando. It's truly becoming whatthe mind can conceive, theeye can believe." r

Frank Louece is a frequent? tditfibtltur u Pdrt'2: ' '

times as many sci-fi movies as westerns in production. son and Richard B. Lewis produced MGM's just-wrapped"'Stargate' filled a void for science-fiction effects we "TankGirl"andislaunchinganew"OuterLimits"serieson

hadn't seen in av/hile," notes movie industry analyst David Showtime.DavisofPaulKaganAssociates."Butlthinkwhatwillreally "It's like politics," he says. "It's putting a spin on thebring back the science-fiction genre is when George Lucas product so that people think of it as a general-audience film.makes the next three 'Star Wans' movies." Yet, some of our greatest movie experiences have been sci-

.,.-,,- t Thc-Qlsr.-c*.-,-eqg9:{istjpn=lEr.L-rs.abseb&hl$sieadcliqn.l-'..,=-,:+'...: :=e*iWars" isplannedasthefirstofthree "StarWars" prequelsto Colichman says major studios have avoided the "sciencebe filmed back-to-back - is far from the only movie fiction" label for fear of attracting only sci-fi fans. The bighealyweight with a future in science-fiction. Kevin Costner studios want big audiences, and "the mass audience wantsis producing and starring in Universal's "Waterworld," a [expensiveJ state-of-the-art computer and other effects thatpost-apocalyptic underwater "Road Warrior" that, at an will blow their minds," he says. Colichman, conversely, canestimated $135 million budget, may be the most expensive produce low-tech sci-fi movies for a smaller audience, sincemovie ever. "the aficionados, who are more into science-fiction philos-

Keanu Reeves has frnished shooting Tri-Star's "Johnny ophy and ideals, don't demand those kinds of expensiveMnemonic," with a script co-written by cyberpunk best- special effects."sellerWilliam Gibson. James Cameron has produced and co- With the costs of special effects coming down, thanks towrittenrthejust-wrapped Fox film "Strange Days," starring new computer animation software and editing systems, theRalph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis and Vincent risks of making science-fiction movies will diminish. ThisD'Onofrio. Oliver Stone is working on a "Planet of the Apes" helped "Stargate" get made, says its direetor, Roland Em-picture, and Stanley Kubrick, on a frlm about artificial intel- merich. "We could do things we couldn't do a couple of yearsligence. Tom Hanks is reportedly attached to Robert Hein- ago," he says, because computer effects helped us to reduceIein's "Stranger in a Strange Land," now in development at cost."Paramount. Yet, there appears to be something else feeding this trend

Why sci-fi now? as well: The comingof the millennium. "We're goingtowardPartly, it's because Holllnvood feeds on itself. "Everybody it like a boat toward the Niagara Falls," says Densham.

jokes that there are only eight development people in Holly- "We're on a time stream, and we don't know what's on thewood," says Paul Colichman, the media-division president of other side. I think there's a tremendous curiosity now to tryindependent studio IRS,. which has a half-dozen science- and get a vision of our future."frction movies in the pipeline. "And everybody knows every- Michael Weldon, a genre-movie specialist and editor of thebody in Hollywood, and they think along the same lines . . . magazine Psychotronic, agrees. "Science-fiction never wentYou'll see these spurts in the Hollywood community." away," he says, "but this new interest in it I think has

Science-fiction is, indeed, cyclical. In the 1930s there were something to do with the end of the century coming up, andFlash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials. In the'40s there was people wondering what's next for us."essentially nothing. The '50s brought a stream of atomic-age Will it be the bleak future of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation"

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