Entertainment

<I>Mars</I> Rockets Into Theaters

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 10, 2000 / 12:21 PM EST / CBS

After all the hype surrounding the NASA mission to Mars, including the loss of a Mars lander last December, it's no surprise that Hollywood has jumped on the bandwagon.

Mission to Mars, a sci-fi epic opening Friday, is set in the year 2020, reports CBS Early Show contributor Laurie Hibberd. NASA has made giant leaps in its space program and sends a team to Mars.

Starring Tim Robbins, Gary Sinese and Don Cheadle, the film follows the mission to the Red Planet and when home base gets a mysterious distress signal, it follows the rescue mission, which runs into problems of its own. The crew ultimately lands on Mars and makes a discovery that changes rescuers' lives.

This kind of big-budget adventure - Mars' cost was estimated at $70-$80 million - usually debuts at Christmas or in the summer, but this is beginning to change.

The success last year at this time of The Matrix, which took in more than $170 million at the box office, and the opening six weeks later of The Mummy, which took in more than $150 million, showed that sci-fi action films can do well in any season, if they are marketed properly and the audience hooks into them.

Disney also has chosen to release this film in March to avoid competition from two other astronaut films opening later this year. Clint Eastwood's Space Cowboys opens in August, and Red Planet, starring Val Kilmer on his own mission to Mars, opens in the fall.

Past experience has shown that the success of these movies, all with very similar themes, depends on how well the film is made and marketed.

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In 1998, two asteroid films opened within months of one another. Deep Impact took in more than $140 million and Armageddon took in more than $200 million.

The previous summer, two volcano movies opened. Neither Dante's Peak, which took in $67 million, nor Volcano, which took in $45 million, found favor with audiences.

Mars is the first sci-fi endeavor of director Brian DePalma, a science fiction fan whose previous movies included Dresses to Kill, Scarface, Blow Out, Snake Eyes and Mission Impossible.

Also opening this weekend is The Ninth Gate, a Roman Polanski movie starring heartthrob Johnny Depp. A horror-mystery that opened last year in Europe, it's about one man's labyrinthine search for a book on satanic rituals.

Polanski's other movies have included Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown and Death and The Maiden.