A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : WE’RE MOVING : ‘Alive’ Won’t Be Until Next Year

The latest chapter in the ongoing saga of how to sell a movie that deals with cannibalism: The Nov. 6 opening of “Alive” has been postponed until early 1992.

“Alive” is based on real events chronicled in a best-selling book by Piers Paul Read. A plane carrying a rugby team from Uruguay crashes in the Andes Mountains; the survivors endure starvation and emotional strain for 10 weeks, and are forced to resort to cannibalism before they are eventually rescued. The film, written by Academy Award-winning John Patrick Shanley (“Moonstruck”), has a cast that includes Ethan Hawke and Vincent Spano.

“The delay wasn’t based on the subject matter at all,” said Dick Cook, president of the Walt Disney Co.’s distribution division. (The film will be distributed by the company’s Touchstone Pictures.)

Cook called the postponement “prudent releasing. It will allow us time to prepare a strong marketing approach.” Touchstone has been screening “Alive” for test audiences and members of the press in recent weeks. Some audience members have found the cannibalism scenes difficult to watch, but Cook called the response to the film favorable, and said opening the film Nov. 6 wouldn’t give it a chance to catch on before the crush of Christmas movies.

“Alive” director Frank Marshall (“Arachnophobia”) is happy about the delay. “Some people might make jokes about this movie in relation to Thanksgiving, and think that’s why we’re holding off,” he said. “The real reason is there are simply too many movies out there right now. As we saw with ‘Hero,’ even with three big stars and a big campaign, the movie still came in fourth. With our movie, we have to find a way to tell people this is a movie about spiritualism, survival and it’s a true story. And there are the sensational aspects we don’t want exploit. We need time to position the movie and set up the marketing.”