THE FOURTH INSTALLMENT

Though it is rare for films to keep up their quality and popularity once they go into Part Three and Part Four (remember the Police Academy series?), there have been some extremely strong franchises in Hollywood which have had a faithful following well into their third and fourth sequels. The top five films to have succeeded in their fourth installments are Rocky IV ($127.9 million at the US box-office), Star Trek IV ($109.7 million), Sudden Impact ($67.6 million), Thunderball ($63.6 million) and A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 4 ($49.4 million). The success of Batman and Robin has proved the enormous strength of Warner Bros' Batman franchise, and with the film grossing $43 million in its first three days of opening at the US box-office, it will undoubtedly find a place at the higher end of that ranking. Yet, Thunderball was released in 1965 and if the inflation of 30 years is taken into account it may turn out to be the most successful of all!

TROUBLE AT 007

Even as MGM is counting heavily on the 18th James Bond installment, Tomorrow Never Dies, the British press were having a field day writing about the trouble at MGM even before the film started shooting. The cast was said to be unhappy, the script writers appeared to be squabbling about rewrites, and the film was said to be going way over budget. Though the stars have been tight-lipped about the situation, it turns out that the British press may simply have over-reacted. Rewrites of the script are very routine and the tension over the writing probably stemmed from the fact that the pressure was on from MGM to start shooting by April 1 by hook or by crook, since the film is to be released in December. Though insiders are worried that the rushed shooting may affect the quality of the final product, most are counting on the strength of James Bond's following for a big opening. Probably the strongest indicator that MGM really isn't all that worried about the new Bond film, is the fact that it has coolly pegged its opening date at December 19, 1997 — the same day on which James Cameron's 20th Century Fox blockbuster Titanic, opens.