'Family' fun for Hollywood

LOS ANGELES, June 28 (UPI) -- From "Ice Age" to "Spider-Man," from "Snow Dogs" to "Scooby-Doo," family films are having a good year at the U.S. box office in 2002 -- and Hollywood still has a handful of G, PG and PG-13 pictures ready to roll out this summer.

"Return to Never Land," "The Rookie," "Big Fat Liar," "Lilo & Stitch" and "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron" -- even the March re-release of "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" -- all have presented parents and young children with movie choices sure to please all but the most strident critics of Hollywood's moral character.

Movies such as "The Scorpion King," "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" and "Spider-Man" may take a rap for cartoon violence, but their appeal to younger audiences is a major reason why they are among the highest-grossing films of the year so far.

The family fare continues this weekend with the release of "Hey Arnold!" -- a feature version of the animated Nickelodeon series. Cartoon Network enters the marketplace next Wednesday with a big-screen version of its hit series "The Powerpuff Girls," and youthful rapper Bow Wow -- formerly Lil' Bow Wow -- shows up in the basketball-theme kid comedy "Like Mike."

Other July releases targeted at the young ones include "The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course," starring TV naturalist Steve Irwin; "Stuart Little 2"; and "The Country Bears," based on a former attraction at Disneyland.

August brings Dana Carvey in "The Master of Disguise"; "Spy Kids 2," the sequel to last year's surprise hit; and "Children on Their Birthdays," about a trio of adolescents in a small Alabama town who team up to get the best of a conman.

Whether it is a response to marketplace considerations, political pressure from social critics, or some combination of factors, the spate of family programming could result in an unkind irony for filmmakers and marketers -- a marketplace so crowded that some otherwise worthy projects might not survive.

That could be enough to give studios pause, down the road, about making more kid-oriented or family friendly pictures. After all, that is one of the rationales that Hollywood has traditionally offered to explain the relative lack of such movies during its occasional cycles of dependence on more sex-and-violence oriented movies.

With the release of "Hey Arnold! The Movie," the market for G, PG and PG-13 audiences will be as competitive as it has been in recent memory. Nickelodeon film and TV president Albie Hecht told the New York Daily News the prospect "petrified" him.

"I'm shaking as we speak," said Hecht.

The good news for Hecht and Nickelodeon is that "Hey Arnold!" was not an expensive project -- coming in at a reported $10 million -- and the prognosis is good that it will turn a profit.

It might be a major challenge for "Hey Arnold!" to attract attention in a marketplace generally characterized by loud, bombastic images, given the relatively gentle nature of the cartoon show and its title character. But Hecht told UPI the movie's quiet tone actually distinguishes it from the pack.

"Arnold doesn't have superpowers or super gadgets," said Hecht, "but he is a kid you're very comfortable because you know him. He doesn't need over-the-top or potty humor."

Hecht sounded very high on another Nickelodeon project, a feature due in theaters this fall based on the animated series "The Wild Thornberrys," featuring the voice talents of Brenda Blethyn, Tim Curry, Rupert Everett and Lynn Redgrave.

"We feel like there's a great fan base for the movie," he said. "It's been a great performer on the network."

Hecht said it's a good time to be in the family entertainment business.

"There are more families out there and more desire for family movies, which is good for us because were a leader in the field and we've been a leader," he said. "Every weekend is a family movie weekend as far as we're concerned. There's a desire year round, that I think is driving what you're seeing."

2002 shapes up as a second straight banner year for family pictures. Three of the top four blockbusters of 2001 -- "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," "Shrek" and "Monsters, Inc." -- were rated G or PG. The fourth -- "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" was PG-13.

The box office's infatuation with family movies is likely to grow after such a successful summer, followed by a holiday season that already holds the promise of two more blockbusters -- the second installments of the "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings" franchises.