MOVIES - Aug. 18, 1988

Universal Pictures is adding at least eight more cities to its release list Friday for Martin Scorsese’s controversial “The Last Temptation of Christ”--San Diego, Santa Ana, Houston, Austin, Philadelphia, Detroit, Phoenix and Tucson. Houston and Austin will be the first Southern cities to see the film. Last weekend, the film was shown only in nine coastal and Northern cities, including Los Angeles, because of concerns about protests from fundamentalist Christian groups, many of which are either headquartered in, or have large followings, in the South.