Richie Rich Starring Macaulay Culkin, John Larroquette, Edward Herrmann, Christine Ebersole, Jonathan Hyde. Directed by Donald Petrie. When your just-shy-of-14 leading boy is this close to the growth spurt that will forever transform his cute little face and voice, it's not easy standing by when he develops an eye infection that shuts down the set for two weeks. But such snags, says director Petrie (Grumpy Old Men), "are what insurance is for." In his words, it'll be a "hugely sped-up" race to complete this estimated $40 to $50 million adaptation of the Harvey Comics series about the world's wealthiest kid. Expect to see lots of neat toys like the Kidapult, a Hitchcockian chase finale across "Mount Richmore," and over-the-top villainy from Larroquette as Rich's nemesis, Laurence Van Dough. Did the TV star worry about being upstaged? "Not at all," he says. "Look what working with Baby LeRoy did for W.C. Fields." (Dec. 21) *What's At Stake: Plenty for the star and his manager dad, Kit. If Rich doesn't open big, Mac's $8 million fees may drop faster than his postpubescent voice.
Cobb starring Tommy Lee Jones, Robert Wuhl, Lolita Davidovich. Directed by Ron Shelton. When Shelton told Fox he wanted to make a movie about Baseball Hall of Famer * Ty Cobb, the studio said great. After all, the writer-director had crafted hits out of sports subjects before (Bull Durham, White Men Can't Jump). But when Shelton delivered an unflinching script about a dying, dissipated bigot with little actual baseball action in it, Fox balked. And, says Shelton, when he insisted on casting the then-unbankable Jones in the title role, Cobb was put on waivers until Warner Bros., privy to Jones' breakout Fugitive performance, picked up the project. Jones again gets a scenery-chewing role as Cobb; Wuhl (Batman) plays Al Stump, the sportswriter who is tapped to be his biographer. With Cobb and Stump, says Shelton, "it was as if Samuel Johnson had hired Boswell at the point of a gun and said, 'This is the way it's gonna read.'" "This is not The Pride of the Yankees," Wuhl observes. "This is like Raging Bull." (Dec. 23) *What's At Stake: For Shelton, prestige. For Warner Bros., prestige and not much else. Even cast members say Cobb may be too tough to score at the box office.
Speechless Starring Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Christopher Reeve. Directed by Ron Underwood. Holy filibuster! It's Batman vs. Superman. Well, not exactly-but in this waggish comedy, the guy best known as the Caped Crusader (Keaton) goes mano a mano with the guy best known as the Man of Steel (Reeve) for the hand of Davis. And that's only one of the battles in this war-torn triangle set in the thick of a nasty U.S. Senate race. Keaton and Davis also butt heads-he writes speeches for the Republican, she for the Democrat-while Reeve is a blow-dried network newsie covering the fireworks. Perhaps mindful of the most recent stab at conjuring Tracy-Hepburn magic (the troubled I Love Trouble), director Underwood (City Slickers) stresses that Speechless is a romance, not just repartee. "It really is a film about two people who fall in love," he insists. "Their love allows them to have differences of opinion." *What's At Stake: For Keaton (The Paper) and Davis (Angie): star power-use it or lose it. For James Carville and Mary Matalin: reflected glory.
