According to a report in the December issue of Premiere magazine, during production of the animated feature at Bluth's Dublin-based studios, Spielberg (who co-produced along with George Lucas) complained that the film was ''too scary and too violent" for little children - a feeling some held about Bluth's first animated endeavor, The Secret of NIMH. Spielberg, who teamed with the ex-Disney animator Bluth for 1986's An American Tail, ordered expensive last-minute changes in the dinosaur film. As a result of the fallout, The Land Before Time may well be the last time for its director and producer.
LIONS AND HORSES AND PIGS, OH MY! Porcine themes, so much in evidence lately what with their prominent roles in The Milagro Beanfield War, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Big Top Pee-wee, continue to rear their snouts (at least in name) in new films, along with some equine and feline obsessions.
On the pork front, coming titles include Robbie Zenith and the Pig of Knowledge, a comic collaboration between Neal Isreal and horror director Tobe Hooper; and In a Pig's Eye, which was shot in Jersey City, N.J. In the horse corral, hot on the hooves of the Andrew McCarthy-Molly Ringwald dud Fresh Horses comes Damned Horses, a William Nunez flick; and the Canadian film Crazy Horse. And then there's The Lion Is a Cat, from West Germany. A veritable movie menagerie, as it were.
SHUFFLING OFF. Ned Tanen, who helmed Paramount Pictures through four years of blockbusters with Top Gun, Fatal Attraction, Beverly Hills Cop II and two Crocodile Dundees, resigned his post as the studio's president this week. The move, unlike most Hollywood boardroom changes, was not due to a downturn in the studio's fortunes. Last year, Tanen informed Paramount's chairman, Frank Mancuso, of his intention to step down. His job will be divided between two Paramount execs - Sidney Ganis and Barry London.
