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PLACING TIBET

SCORSESE'S DALAI LAMA EPIC, KUNDUN, TAKES ON THE SIMILAR-IN-SPIRIT SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET

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Religious-themed movies are never an easy sell: In 1988, despite a noisy controversy, Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ attracted just $8.2 million domestically. In a fit of stubborn creativity, however, Scorsese will unleash Kundun, a $30 million epic about the Dalai Lama, this year. And he's not alone. His movie will go head-to-head with director Jean-Jacques Annaud's Seven Years in Tibet, another film chronicling the adventures of the exiled spiritual leader.

Although Scorsese only recently completed filming in Morocco, his version has already earned a thumbs-down -- from the Chinese government, which has repressed Tibetan Buddhism since occupying the country in 1950. In November, an official at the censorious Chinese Film Bureau threatened to stop doing business with the Walt Disney Co. if it went ahead with its plans to release Kundun in the U.S. Following Disney's decision to stand by the project, and a protest mounted by Hollywood's elite, the opposition blinked. ''The Chinese government...has never put pressure in any way on the Disney Co.,'' a spokesman for the foreign ministry insisted Dec. 11, though the future of Disney's Beijing connection is still unclear.

But bad Chinese press is the least of the filmmakers' worries. Unlike dinosaurs or even the Titanic, the Dalai Lama doesn't seem like a surefire ticket seller (1994's Little Buddha, starring Keanu Reeves, made an ascetic $4.8 million). And audiences aren't likely to purchase tickets for two Dalai Lama flicks, which are both scheduled for a fall release. ''They certainly have their similarities,'' concedes Michael Besman, executive producer of TriStar's Seven Years in Tibet, currently filming in the Chilean Andes. ''But they're really told from different points of view. Ours is about [Australian mountaineer]Heinrich Harrer and his journey [during which he befriended the young Dalai Lama], while Kundun is about the Dalai Lama himself.''

The biggest difference, though, is in the stars. While Scorsese cast unknown Asians in Kundun (many of them nonactors), Tibet's hero is played by box office golden boy Brad Pitt -- which puts Tibet one step closer to nirvana.