Is the Pig in Danger of Becoming a Turkey?

By KIM MASTERS

Universal had hoped to grab its share of the family audience with Babe: Pig in the City, the much anticipated sequel to its 1995 sleeper hit, Babe. But even before arriving in theaters, the new Babe has taken a sudden turn down a dark alley. Last week Universal took the perhaps unprecedented step of canceling a star-studded premiere of the film. The studio said it canceled the Los Angeles event, which was to have been a benefit for the Children's Defense Fund, because the talking-animal special effects weren't done. But that was, well, double-talk. In fact, the studio brass hadn't seen the finished film until last week. When they did, they weren't happy. Ron Meyer, president of Universal Studios Inc., got in touch with studio owner Edgar Bronfman Jr., who concurred that the picture was too scary for the children the studio needs to attract.

Director George Miller, creator of Babe as well as the Mad Max franchise, was slaving away last week, trying to get the $90 million-plus film in shape for its Nov. 25 opening. The notoriously deliberative Miller admits that some of the problem was "self-inflicted." He says he hadn't seen the film on a big screen until last Thursday, and he agrees that it was overwhelming. "The movie was far too loud," he says. "And the voices were far too shrill and strident... I'm relieved I have the opportunity to get this [reworked], because it would have destroyed the film." To lighten the tone, some of the score will be softened. Miller says he is even tuning down the clank when Farmer Hoggett falls into a well, because "people thought he was dead."

Problems with the potentially invaluable Babe franchise are the last thing Universal needs. The studio has been in turmoil for months, firing a number of top executives and misfiring with a number of expensive films, including Primary Colors and Mercury Rising. Late last week came reports that Universal Studios chairman Frank Biondi was out of the top job. Adding insult to injury, the aborted Babe benefit had been arranged by Biondi's wife. Universal made a contribution to the Defense Fund. Now it has to hope that Miller can turn Babe from a sow's ear into a silk purse from which it can fill its own coffers.

--By Kim Masters