FILM TRACKING: Familiar and Meant to Be

HOLLYWOOD -- You should never, ever tell your Valentine's Day date that she or he reminds you of an old girlfriend or boyfriend (and never compare your date to a parent!), but when it comes to movies premiering on the romantic holiday, there's no prohibition on bringing up old acquaintances.

Four new movies will hit the multiplex Thursday, and in varying degrees each film is being sold as much for what it is as for what it's related to.

Fox is hawking its sci-fi thriller "Jumper" as "from the director of 'The Bourne Ultimatum' and 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith.' " Universal is promoting the romantic comedy "Definitely, Maybe" as "from the producers of" such films as "Notting Hill," "Love Actually" and "Bridget Jones's Diary." Disney is touting the success of its hit dance movie "Step Up" in pushing the sequel "Step Up 2 the Streets." And Paramount is selling "The Spiderwick Chronicles" almost as if it were the work of filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan, who had nothing to do with it.

When Paramount and Nickelodeon Films first started discussing possible marketing hooks for "Spiderwick," according to someone familiar with the meetings, the companies looked at the creative media for Shyamalan's "The Village," which hinted at a foreboding presence just beyond sight. One poster for that 2004 fright film included creepy tree branches obscuring a small town, while the one-sheet for "Spiderwick" takes similar limbs and spells out "beware." Trailers for "Spiderwick" warn: "There is an unseen world right outside your door."

Adapted from the popular children's novels from Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black, "Spiderwick" might face the trickiest marketing challenge of all of the new movies in wide release. Even though the film was co-produced by Nickelodeon Films and is rated PG, "Spiderwick" is much more disturbing than any episode of "SpongeBob SquarePants" (unless you are reflexively disturbed by a singing sponge).

While the typical audience for Nickelodeon's cable television channel is kids ages 7 to 12, Paramount and Nickelodeon both want "Spiderwick" to play older, hitting some teenagers. The danger in making a movie that is particularly intense for the PG rating is that young children might flee the theater in tears. But if the film is perceived by older kids as being soft, they might go see "Jumper" or "Step Up 2 the Streets" instead.

Thanks in part to Fox's pervasive advertising campaign (including a constant presence on the studio's sister network, home to the Super Bowl and "American Idol"), "Jumper" has the strongest momentum entering the weekend and should be the No. 1 film. As the PG-13 movie has little star power " its lead character is played by Hayden Christensen, who has not done much of note outside of the new "Star Wars" films " Fox is selling the film's teleportation plot and the pedigree of director Doug Liman, who made the first, breakout "Bourne" movie and Fox's smash "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."

"Spiderwick" probably will finish in second, narrowly ahead of "Step Up 2." You might catch a glimpse of model-actor-whatever Channing Tatum in some promotions for the dance sequel, but don't expect much more than that in the movie itself. Tatum, whose rise to fame included the first "Step Up" two years ago, has only a few scenes in the PG-13 follow-up, which is being sold to older teens and hip-hop music fans.

Even though it's clearly the most romantic Valentine's Day debut, the PG-13 "Definitely, Maybe" will have the softest opening of all of the four new releases. The film's core audience is women older than 35, but Universal is also banking on good reviews and positive word of mouth to give the film a long shelf life. In 2003, the studio's "Love Actually" opened to $6.9 million in a limited national release but still grossed nearly $60 million.

With Monday's Presidents Day holiday making for what is essentially a five-day weekend, look for all of the grosses to be high. "Jumper" should take in about $38 million, followed by "Spiderwick" with as much as $29 million. "Step Up 2" seems on track to gross about $24 million over its first five days, with "Definitely, Maybe" hoping to take in as much as $14 million.