Unopened Jaws
It hasn't been all fun and games at Universal Studios Florida
since the $630 million theme park opened in Orlando this past spring.
Two of the park's major attractions have been either closed (like the Jaws ride, whose great white is pictured in dry dock right), or in
''technical rehearsal'' — meaning they operate only sporadically (such
as the shaky Earthquake ride). As a result, Universal is suing the
designers, Ride & Show Engineering, for undisclosed damages. A third
attraction, Kongfrontntion (not designed by Ride & Show), is also
having trouble — but this time it's not beauty that's killing the big
beast, but glitches in the computer software that are causing
headaches. According to Mark Messersmith, Ride & Show's marketing
director, the problems are due more to Universal's inexperience with
grand-scale theme parks and its insistence on opening on schedule
rather than to any design flaws. ''Disney's philosophy is, if it's not
perfect, it's not ready for the public,'' says Messersmith. ''Universal
said they were going to open it at this time and that's it. I've even
heard that a lot of the concession stands have run out of soda pop.''
Not so, counters Steve Lew, Universal Studios president. He contends
that all the rides will be open soon, and notes that ''there isn't a
restaurant in the world that doesn't sometime or another run out of a
baked potato. Everything is very positive at USF. Everything.''
Mob Scenes
Whenever moviemakers decide to shoot additional footage for a film
that's already wrapped and well into the editing stage, it's usually
a signal for industry tongues to start wagging. So when director
Francis Ford Coppola was spotted filming additional
scenes for The Godfather, Part III in New York's Little Italy in
mid-September, the whispering began: The picture's in trouble,
Paramount has another Two Jakes on its hands, Coppola's way over
budget, the film's scheduled November 21 release date has been
postponed, and on and on. For the record, no one connected with the
pr prction will say exactly what has been shot or why, except that
some of the new scenes include Sofia Coppola, the director's
daughter, and Andy Garcia (below, left). Garcia plays Sonny
Corleone's (James Caan in the original Godfather) illegitimate son
who'' looking to join the family business, while Sofia is cast as the
child of Michael and Kay Corleone (Al Pacino and Diane Keaton).
Paramount now says the film will be in theaters by Christmastime, and
execs there think that will be an offer hard for moviegoers to
refuse.
Miller's Mail
Residents of upscale Manhattan neighborhoods recently found a
surprise between the Sharper Image and J. Crew catalogs in their
mailboxes. Twentieth Century Fox sent out 150,000 colorful 10-page
booklets publicizing Miller's Crossing, the studio's new
gangster drama directed by Joel Coen, and starring Albert Finney and
Gabriel Byrne. Direct mail is an unusual approach to advertising a
film, and according to Geoff Ammer, Fox's senior vice president for
marketing, ''It's hard to tell if it will be successful yet, but we
thought it would be an elegant and classy way to get people
interested — it's much more personalized than seeing a big sign at the
bus stop.'' Whether this approach will turn out to be the wave of the
future for the movie business or just an expensive experiment is
still unknown, but Fox has heard from at least one pleased recipient.
Actor John Turturro, who plays the double-dealing Bernie Bernbaum in Miller's Crossing, called to thank the studio for sending him what he
thought was part of the press material. It turns out he just happened
to live in the right zip code.
