Frosty forecast: Olympics, kudos chill winter release skeds.(motion pictures)

Studios are filling their pipelines, and execs at Sundance are opening their wallets. For the first time in a long while, the film biz is a hive of activity.

But you would never know it by looking at the sked of winter releases.

From now until March, thanks to Olympic fever and ongoing awards pushes, there is no single title with enough across-the-board strength to intimidate anyone. That's a big change from the past few years, when firmly planted heavyweights like "Scream 3" and "Hannibal" posted huge weekends in February and set the tone for the seasons to follow.

By Darwinian box office law, of course, something has to connect in January and February. Those hits will by definition be sleepers, a notion that will delight anyone still reeling from the binge of hit-and-run bows in recent months.

U.S. audiences will be served platform-release Oscar hopefuls such as "I Am Sam," "Black Hawk Down" and "The Shipping News." Depending on their grosses and award tallies, "In the Bedroom," "Monster's Ball" and "Gosford Park" could also take up a considerable number of screens.

Several are quality pics; thus their gradual rollouts. But industryites who saw this roster last year and reflexively debate the pics' merits and demerits at every social gathering will soon be yearning for something new.

The holiday hangover is already so pronounced that when a journo told a studio publicist he was going to "Orange County," she wondered. "Where are they doing an Academy screening? Anaheim?"