HEADLINE: Hollywood gets into Cyberspace with geek movies

DATE: February 22, 1995, Wednesday, BC cycle

By Therese Poletti

DATELINE: NEW YORK

With dramatic tales like the capture last week of a shadowy computer hacker wanted around the world, Hollywood studios are scrambling to cash in on the growing interest in cyberspace.

"They are all looking at computer-related movies because computers are hot," said Bishop Cheen, analyst at Paul Kagan and Associates. "They are all reviewing scripts or have budgets for them. We are going to see a rash of these kinds of movies."

"The world's most wanted computer hacker," as authorities called suspect Kevin Mitnick, was accused not only of stealing thousands of credit cards and billions of dollars in computer information but played folly with national security by infiltrating a military system that directed nuclear missiles.

Authorites laid a painstaking trap, helped by a young security expert who tracked Mitnick down via sophisticated computerized information. The suspect was cornered- and arrested- after a tension-filled stakeout of his apartment in Raleigh, N.C.

Experts say it remains to be seen what kind of box office draw can be expected from techie movies such as one that might be based on the hunt for Mitnick. But the recent surge of interest in the Internet, the high-profile criminal cases, and romanticized images of hackers may fuel their popularity.

"I think it's a limited market, although given the media's insatiable appetite for Internet hype, these movies might do well," said Keith Benjamin, analyst with Robertson Stephens.

TriStar Pictures and Columbia Pictures, both divisions of Sony Corp., are developing movies based on technology or computer crime, executives said.

TriStar is working on a movie called "Johnny Mnemonic," based on a science fiction story by William Gibson, about a futuristic high-tech "data courier" with confidential information stored in a memory chip implanted in his head.

The movie, estimated to cost $ 20 million to $ 30 million, stars Keanu Reeves and will be released in May or June.

Gibson, often cited as founder of the cyberpunk movement, coined the now-popular "cyberspace" in his novel "Neuromancer," referring to a futuristic computer network that people used by plugging their brains into it.

Sony also has plans for a CD-ROM game tied to the movie, also called "Johnny Mnemonic," developed by Sony Imagesoft, a division of Sony Electronic Publishing.

Columbia Pictures has a movie in development called "The Net," starring Sandra Bullock, who played opposite Reeves in "Speed." Bullock plays a reclusive systems analyst who accidentally taps into a classified program and becomes involved in a murder plot. Sony Imagesoft has not yet decided whether it will develop a CD-ROM game version of "The Net."

MGM/United Artists is said to be working on a movie called "Hackers," about a group of young computer buffs framed for a crime and trying to protect their innocence. An MGM/UA spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.

Disney is also said to be working on a movie called f2f, (face to face), about a serial killer who tracks his victims on an online service. Disney also did not return calls.

Bruce Fancher, once a member of the Legion of Doom hacker gang, worked as a consultant for "Hackers." He said, much to his dismay, hackers are becoming more popular and increasingly seen as romantic rebels against society.

"I've never met one that had political motivation. That is really something projected on them by the mainstream media," Fancher said. Fancher now runs a software company called Evolution Online Systems. He said he doesn't do anything "untoward" anymore.

Computers- particularly electronic mail and virtual reality- also played a significant role in "Disclosure," a recent movie movie about sexual harassment. The movie, based on a novel by Michael Crichton, takes place at a Seattle-based computer company.

Even if other computer movies are not as successful as "Disclosure," studios will likely reap further revenues from CD-ROM game tie-ins to the movies.

A senior executive said at Walt Disney Co.'s annual meeting on Tuesday that the entertainement giant's interactive media and CD-ROM products business could be a $ 1 billion business generator in just a few years.

"Merchandising and Hollywood go hand in hand," said Cheen at Paul Kagan.

Copyright 1995 Reuters, Limited ?