X Files Movie

Prosecutors dropped murder and burglary charges Monday against an Orange County man who spent 3 1/2 years in prison for a crime he says he did not commit. "I'm not guilty," an overwhelmed Earl Rhoney told reporters as he left Orange County Jail and made his way to a friend's car. "I knew things were going to go my way. It was just a matter of time."

Dragons have the best lines in "Reign of Fire," and they don't say a word. All they have to do is breathe. Taking a year in post-production to come to life, the fire snorters in this futuristic story are admirable creatures, way more convincing than the puny humans arrayed against them. When they open their mouths, we pay attention, which is not necessarily the case with anyone else.

If it weren't for the 1997 holiday holdover movies and Oscar nominees such as "Good Will Hunting," "As Good as It Gets" and, of course, "Titanic," U.S. movie ticket sales for the first two months of the new year would be pretty dismal. "U.S. Marshals," Warner Bros.' follow-up to "The Fugitive," had a decent opening over the weekend ($16.8 million), but the Tommy Lee Jones vehicle still wasn't good enough to knock "Titanic" off the top box-office perch after 12 long weeks.

Amid a crush of television cameras, an overwhelmed Earl Rhoney walked out of Orange County Jail a free man Monday after spending 3 1/2 years there for a murder he insists he didn't commit. Hours earlier, prosecutors had dropped murder and burglary charges against the former Irvine man after a judge ruled that key evidence obtained through the use of a so-called scent machine could not be used at Rhoney's second trial.

Jack Tamkin doesn't mind. It's his business. Tamkin's L.A.-based Studio Fan Mail service handles responses for such TV stars as Tim Allen ("Home Improvement"), Dean Cain ("Lois &Clark") and David Duchovny ("The X-Files") and movie names like Jean-Claude Van Damme, Bruce Willis and Robert Downey Jr. In 30 years in the business, Tamkin has aided many a teen idol--from the "Brady Bunch" kids to Henry Winkler during his '70s heyday.

Roughly halfway through the summer season, when the film industry records 40% of its ticket sales, the "how are we doing?" scorecard varies from studio to studio. But the one thought on every executive's mind in Hollywood--regardless of how their films are doing--is "where are the profits?" "The summer has had plenty of surprises and business has been incredible," observes one major film company executive. "But no one's really made any money yet."

"The X-Files" returns Sunday on Fox for its seventh season, scaring and mystifying viewers with its tales of the paranormal and the unexplainable. But though he knows how the cliffhanger that launches the season premiere turns out, the ultimate truth is still out there for the show's creator, Chris Carter. That is, whether this season will be the end of the line for Carter and stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson--and the show itself.

Fright. Terror. Frayed nerves. Jitters. These feelings are all too familiar to the determined scientific and pragmatic FBI Agent Dana Scully in her investigations of the X-Files, unsolved cases characterized by their unexplainable and paranormal nature.

In the last "Seinfeld" episode, Jerry and the gang wind up reunited in Los Angeles, tasting the good life but just as cantankerous as ever. At least, that's the scenario in an outline of the final episode that's intricately detailed, reasonably funny and, by all accounts, a complete hoax.

Today's opening of Downtown Disney--an eclectic collection of 28 stores, snazzy restaurants and nightclubs--marks the latest entry in Southern California's burgeoning entertainment-retail market. Like Universal CityWalk and the Block in nearby Orange, Disney is betting that its Downtown Disney--wedged between Disneyland and a new theme park--will give a young-adult edge to the traditional family-oriented resort area. The retail and food esplanade is part of Disney's $1.