Bustin' but the blockbusters

Traditionally the summer movie season starts Memorial Day weekend and ends Labor Day weekend. In Hollywood, though, who likes to stick to tradition?

In mid-May 1996 the tradition changed due to a little film called "Twister." Now, many studios want to open on that coveted weekend, since the movie brought in $41 million in its opening, and made over a half-billion dollars worldwide by the end of the s ummer. This summer that weekend is again one of the most important, since almost every weekend between May and July contains an "event" movie worth from$90 to $200 million, each needing a "Twister"-style opening to make a profit.

This summer is also a highly anticipated sequel fest. About three major movies are sequels. The heated competition will come from two major sequels pitting a bat and his robin against extinct dinosaurs. Many are watching to see who is more marketable and more dominant at the box office. My vote is for the bat.

This summer's schedule has suffered many injuries, but the most noticeable was announced last month by "Terminator" director James Cameron. Unable to finish "Titanic," about the ill-fated "unsinkable" cruise liner, he said the special effects were too com plex and were so many that he could not meet schedule. The movie was pushed back to the Oscar-nominee months of November and December while the budget quickly approached the $200 million mark.

The real qustion is, which of these summer blockbusters should you give up your karaoke money for? So, here with the help of psychic friends Dionne Warwick and Linda Georgian, via telepathy, are my picks for the Summer Blockbusters of 1997.

"The Fifth Element"

Opening: May 9

Star power: Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Milla Jovovich, directed by Luc Besson

The plot: Nobody knows. Besson ("La Femme Nikita," "The Professional") wants to keep his $90 million baby a secret until it officially opens the 50th Annual Cannes Film Festival. He has gone as far as having his actors sign contracts to keep their mouths shut.

Gambles: Nobody likes to go to a movie he or she doesn't know anything about, but from its trailers "Element" looks to be a sci-fi, special-effects extravaganza. If it is to become a summer blockbuster, the grapevine must be filled with positive co mments from moviegoers.

Box office prediction: $85 million.

"The Lost World: Jurassic Park"

Opening: May 23

Star power: Super-special-effected dinosaurs. Oh yeah, and last year's alien attack survivor, Jeff Goldblum, and a cast of others.

The plot: Supposedly much more different than you think. In this sequel, the new cast dares to venture back to the dino island because, as seen in the previews, something has survived.

Gambles: None really, especially looking at Spielberg's record, the wads of cash the first one made, and all the products coming out just in time for the movie. If the plot is wimpy, like the first one, critics will have a snit, but looking at the TV spots, leaping dinosaurs look to be pretty cool.

Box office prediction: Infinite.

"Con Air"

Opening: June 6

Star power: Long-haired Oscar-winner Nicolas Cage stars as a recently paroled prisoner, Oscar-nominee John Malkovich as a criminal mastermind, John Cusack as a U.S. Marshal, and omnipresent scene-stealer Ving Rhames.

The plot: Paroled Cage becomes entangled in Malkovich's hijacking of a convict transport flight. Will Cage and Cusack save the famed Las Vegas Strip before it becomes a convict air strip? Dionne and Linda know, but don't want to spoil it.

Gambles: This is the first movie that blockbuster magician Jerry Bruckheimer ("The Rock," "Top Gun," and "Beverly Hills Cop") officially has produced without the late Don Simpson. Will "Con Air" pop his solo moviemaking cherry?

Box office prediction: $135 million.

"Speed 2: Cruise Control"

Opening: June 13

Star power: Sweetie Sandra Bullock, who gained notice in the original, is back with new love interest Jason Patric, and the evil Willem Dafoe.

The plot: Our cute couple's vacation is spoiled when their cruise ship is taken over by an angry computer genius (it may have been AOL's constant crashing) sending the ship hurtling toward a date with disaster. I think Catbert in the comic strip "D ilbert" already did this.

Gambles: After "Speed" and last summer's "Twister," director Jan De Bont is burning! But can a cruise liner held captive, and maintaining a not-so-quick speed, and a reported budget between $160 million to $185 million, be as nail-biting as an out- of-control bus or tornado? Dionne and I don't think so, but Linda says, "Give it a try." I will give De Bont a try because he's an intuitive action director who is a whiz at quick pacing, kinetic shots and chemistry between actors. Besides, the special ef fects were done by George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic.

Box office prediction: $115 million.

"Batman & Robin"

Opening: June 20

Star power: The fourth time's a charm as George Clooney conforms to the Batsuit. Chris O'Donnell as Robin, Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl, and the evil powers are a bald and blue Arnold Schwarzenegger and a red and green Uma Thurman.

The plot: When baddies Mr. Freeze and seductress Poison Ivy wreak fashionable havoc on disaster-prone Gotham City, Batman saves the day, again.

Gambles: The close to $100 million question is: Will people go and visit Wayne Manor with a third Batman inhabiting? And, can George Clooney be Batman? There is still an intense Bat fetish among moviegoers, and this movie will be one of the top thr ee this summer.

Box office prediction: $195 million.

"My Best Friend's Wedding"

Opening: June 27

Star power: The cutest of the cute, Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz ("She's the One," "The Mask"), and hottie-in-training Dermot Mulroney ("How to Make an American Quilt").

The plot: Roberts and best friend Mulroney have made a pact that if they weren't married by age 30, they would marry each other. Guess what, she's got four days to break up the scheduled wedding between lovebirds Mulroney and Diaz.

Gambles: Many. Roberts hasn't had a solid hit since the early '90s. This time she whips out the fierce comedy we love to see her in (i.e. "Pretty Woman"). But, with a director who knows how to make the theme of marriage funny, P.J. Hogan of "Muriel 's Wedding," this movie will be spawning off hot-button TV talk-show topics for a few years. Also, as one of the few romance-comedy movies of this summer, it is in heated competition with big-budgeted, superstar-powered action films. If it can fight off those movies, Roberts' star power will be revived.

Box office prediction: $80 million.

"Face/Off"

Opening: July 2

Star power: Nicolas Cage versus John Travolta (don't these guys rest?), Oscar-nominee Joan Allen as Travolta's wife. Directed by super-action-ride-maestro John Woo.

The plot: FBI agent Travolta undergoes surgery to assume the physical identity of supposedly dead terrorist Cage. Only in Hollywood could he really just be in a coma. So, bad guy Cage gets pissed and takes on Travolta's identity. Still with me?

Gambles: Facing off against "Men In Black," promotion will have to be like an 800- pound gorilla-everywhere. But, Travolta's other movie "Phenomenon" opened well against "Independence Day" and still made over $100 million.

Box office prediction: $120 million.

"Men In Black"

Opening: July 2

Star power: The Fresh Prince of Intergalactic Warfare, Will Smith. Tommy Lee Jones, the rising royal of action.

The plot: Decked in dark glasses and suits, the MIB agents secretly keep watch on interplanetary immigrants living in, of all places, New York City. All is well until an evil, power-hungry terrorist from the stars threatens to take more than a bite out of the Big Apple.

Gambles: None really. Our Magic 8 Ball says "All signs point to blockbuster vehicle."

Box office prediction: $210 million.

"Air Force One"

Opening: July 25

Star power: A Ford and a DeVille (as in Cruella). Harrison Ford is the president, and Glenn Close pulls a Geraldine Ferraro as the vice prez. Wolfgang Petersen ("In the Line of Fire" and "Outbreak") is their director pilot.

The plot: Above Russia, AFO is carrying the first fam and is hijacked by a gang of terrorists led by Gary Oldman. It's up to the president to physically kick some terrorist ass! Let's see Bill Clinton do that!

Gambles: Using the president and the White House has become very tired as of late. And, haven't we seen this plot many times? But how believable is Ford as the prez? Very. Besides, Petersen is great at directing action thrillers involving solitary spaces ("Outbreak"'s little town, and the sub in "Das Boot").

Box office prediction: $90 million.

Other movies to look out for this summer include "Contact," based on a Carl Sagan novel starring Jody Foster and Matthew McConaughey; "The Flood," starring Christian Slater; Jim Carrey's "The Truman Show"; the big-screen version of "Leave it to Beaver"; " Free Willy 3"; Miramax's star-powered indie "CopLand"; Alicia Silverstone's first producing and starring job in "Excess Baggage"; and the actor formerly known as Marky Mark Wahlberg's voyage into the 1970s porn scene in "Boogie Nights."