Inside move

D'Works, Regal standoff

By ANDREW HINDES

There's no sign of a let-up in the booking standoff between DreamWorks and Regal Cinemas, which flared up two months ago before the release of the studio's "Forces of Nature" (Daily Variety, March 24).

Just a week before DreamWorks' "The Love Letter" is set to open, the pic, starring DreamWorks topper Steven Spielberg's wife Kate Capshaw, isn't booked into any of Regal's 3,500-plus screens, according to insiders. The two companies are said to be at loggerheads over rental terms and theater allocations.

Regal, the nation's largest cinema chain, is the dominant circuit in a number of U.S. markets, including Portland, Spokane-Coeur d'Alene and others primarily in the Northwest and Southeast. "The Love Letter," which opens May 21 on a relatively modest 700 screens, may not be severely affected by a Regal blackout. But if the battle rages on until July 23, when DreamWorks releases its big summer pic "The Haunting," it could turn into an all-out war. That's a scary prospect for both sides, most observers agree.