Real ‘Friends’ Cliffhanger Heads Into Sweeps

The May rating sweeps is often associated with season-ending cliffhangers, but the one surrounding “Friends” this year is being played out behind the scenes, not on the air. The six stars have yet to agree on new contracts for next season, gambling that the longer negotiations drag on, the more desperate NBC will become to retain TV’s top-rated comedy. Reports have indicated that the cast members are seeking well in excess of the $600,000-an-episode fee that “Seinfeld’s” supporting players received during that show’s final season and have remained united, even though some have more promising film careers than others. NBC and Warner Bros. Television, which produces the show, need to have a deal in place before May 15--when the network is scheduled to present next season’s prime-time lineup to advertisers--and reportedly would like to have things squared away by the end of next week. Meanwhile, the sweeps begin Thursday, with “Friends” featuring a stunt casting coup as Bruce Willis--who co-starred with Matthew Perry in “The Whole Nine Yards”--guest stars. Demonstrating how important the show is to NBC, the network will air a “Friends” rerun at 8:30 p.m. for the next three weeks before the show closes its sixth season--and NBC hopes only the season--with a one-hour episode May 18.

Is There a Demand to Return to Bedrock?

A new live-action comedy from Universal Pictures based on the famous Hanna-Barbera animated TV series “The Flintstones” rolls into movie theaters nationwide on Friday. Now, some might ask: Has the world really been clamoring for “The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas”? Didn’t the 1994 comedy “The Flintstones,” starring John Goodman as Fred Flintstone and Rick Moranis as Barney Rubble, pretty much mine those characters for all they were worth? Well, the studio might differ. The original movie grossed $130.5 million at the domestic box office and enough time has gone by that a new crop of kids could be ready to see the new “prequel.” Prequel? Yes, in the latest film, directed by Brian Levant, Fred (Mark Addy) and Barney (Stephen Baldwin) have just met and fallen head-over-heels for Wilma (Kristen Johnston) and Betty (Jane Krakowski). They whisk them off to Rock Vegas for a romantic weekend, but trouble arises because Wilma, a beautiful young heiress, is being pursued by the suave and debonair Chip Rockefeller (Thomas Gibson), who wants to separate her from Fred, leaving Wilma and her family’s fortune all to himself. Turning popular animated characters into live-action films has proven enormously profitable for Hollywood. The 1989 Warner Bros. film “Batman” is the reigning champ, having amassed $251.2 million in North America. “Batman Forever” made $184 million and “Batman Returns” $162.8 million. “The Flintstones,” which opened May 27, 1994, grossed nearly $30 million on its first weekend. “The first ‘Flintstones’ was real big, although it got mixed reviews,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. “But the movie was review-proof because it provided entertainment for kids and there was a nostalgia factor that encouraged parents to come.” But the formula doesn’t always work. While Brendan Fraser became a star on the box-office strength of “George of the Jungle” ($105.3 million), his appeal didn’t help “Dudley Do-Right” ($9.7 million). “I think people weren’t as familiar with Dudley Do-Right as they were with George of the Jungle,” Dergarabedian said.

Some Free Limp Bizkit Better Than None

Watch this week for Limp Bizkit to offer a consolation prize to their fans who were hoping for some new rap-rock fireworks on Independence Day. The band has given up on delivering its third album to stores on the Fourth of July (which is probably why it also abandoned the disc’s longtime working title of “Limpdependence Day”), but to salve the pain for fans (and to keep them from breaking stuff), the group will assemble today at its West Hollywood studio to announce a series of free concerts--yes, free--that will also feature Cypress Hill. The tour will reportedly kick off July 4 and run through Aug. 6, and the band will give details on the venues and ticket information during an interview on MTV’s “Total Request Live” at 3:30 p.m. today. One handler for the band says the group will use the MTV appearance to premiere one of the new songs from the upcoming album, now titled “Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water” and due in August. The disc has been delayed by studio travails (including the departure of celebrated producer Rick Rubin after less than a week on the project) and frontman Fred Durst’s side projects. Some industry insiders question whether Bizkit can match its past success, but Durst says the love affair with fans continues. “It’s been a great year for Limp Bizkit,” Durst said in a statement, “and we wanted to give something real back to the fans.”

*

Compiled by Times Staff Writers