SCREAM TEAM

From Satan in Milton's Paradise Lost to Dennis Rodman of the Chicago Bulls, villains have long got the best lines and had the most fun. The bad guys may be the good guys as Hollywood wagers on more than half-a-dozen summer movies with budgets of more than $80 million. Will director James Cameron's $200 million Titanic sail on time? Will Men in Black extend Will Smith's reign as the Fresh Prince of Independence Day weekend? As the race for big box office heats up, bad guys could emerge as movie MVPs--flamboyant, instantly recognizable characters who can make an impact in a short trailer or be miniaturized and slipped into a Happy Meal. "Heroes have to be drawn according to more conventional terms," says Hollywood Reporter columnist Martin Grove. "When you have these huge-event pictures with megabudgets, villains become the jewels in the crown." Sure, heroes like Jodie Foster in the sci-fi film Contact or Samuel L. Jackson in the drama 187 catch our eye. But when the villains start scheming, that's when summer starts.