On a recent Friday night in State College, Jack Nicholson haunts the big screen as the devil in the The Witches of Eastwick and also demands to watch the World Series as the lead crackpot in the classic One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

For nighttime entertainment here, going to the movies is the most popular attraction next to bar-hopping and bowling.

The State College theater playlist always provides a variety of both new and old feature films for moviegoers. Eight new releases are shown daily at the three Cinema World theaters downtown, and as many as 10 recent favorites are shown from 16 mm reels each weekend at on-campus, makeshift movie houses.

The movie business has thrived here for many years because many Hollywood film companies consider State College one of central Pennsylvania's major audience markets, said John Hogan, a local manager for Cinema World. Many first-run movies are available here at the same time they are in Philadelphia, he added.

The Cinema World corporation of Pittsburgh acquired the local theaters -- Cinema 5, 116 Heister St., The Movies, 407 E. Beaver Ave., and The State Theater, 128 W. College Ave. -- from the Cinemette company in December 1987. Cinema World currently owns 160 screens in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Hogan, who has worked in the local theater business and watched it grow since 1962, said local customer attendance during the past year has been steady. The most popular movie times are usually Saturday matinees and Monday bargain days, but sales are good every day, all year round, he added.

Although Cinema World has a monopoly on downtown theaters, Hogan said he pays close attention to the films being played on University classroom screens -- their only real theater competition, other than videocassette recorders.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights during the academic year, buildings such as the HUB, Kern and the Forum transform into cinemas. Student groups such as the Association of Residence Hall Students, the Graduate Student Association, the Student Union Board, the Science Fiction Society and International Cinema show films as fund raisers.

These groups usually charge $2.50 for admission, and Cinema World charges $4 for its regular showings. Cinema World occasionally allows local radio stations and other organizations to distribute free passes.

The student groups rent class space and projectors from Associated Student Activities, and film distributing companies loan them the movies. Most on-campus films are placed in three categories: art films such as Children of a Lesser God, new films in a second or third release, or older classics such as The Graduate, said ARHS Cinema Director Armin Prediger.

But recently, first-run films such as Bull Durham and A Fish Called Wanda have run simultaneously at the HUB and in town theaters, making the folks at Cinema World more conscious that they are not the only movie business around, Hogan said.

"College students are discriminatory on how they are going to spend their dollar," he said, explaining that the competition is beneficial because movies in State College are a popular form of entertainment for students and area residents alike.

Hogan said many residents from communities throughout Centre County regularly frequent Cinema World screening rooms, but they attend more movies during students' semester breaks and during the summer.

Prediger said an increase in the amount of students owning VCRs has caused a decrease in the on-campus film audience. Tim Fichtner, GSA movie manager, said watching movies in the dorms is only one reason for the decline.

"A (Nittany Lion) home football game could compete with us as any VCR could," he said, adding that GSA's distributor, Films Inc., offered the group more popular titles last year. GSA, which shows an average of four movies each weekend, has Films Inc.'s largest student organization account in the country, Fichtner said.

While the local video store offers VCR owners the choice of a Hollywood library featuring thousands of titles, both Cinema World and the student groups are at the mercy of the major film companies who supply films for their screens, said Larry Collins, senior film buyer for Cinema World.

Cinema World selects the films to be shown on their screens, but the companies still determine the running time for movies at State College theaters because of the contracts, he added. There is an equal chance to receive the blockbuster Crocodile Dundee II or the financial flop Ishtar.

And the distributors exercise the same control on on-campus showings, Collins said, explaining that Bull Durham's double-showing was the result of outside control. But only Cinema World can offer a film such as Scrooged when it is initially released, he said.

The movie business can be thought of as a bunch of hits and misses, Collins said, explaining that Cinema World predicted Imagine -- John Lennon would be successful here, but it only ran a week. Recently A Fish Called Wanda sold enough seats to necessitate a contract extension.

"We try and pick the best film, but it doesn't always work," he said. "We felt Imagine would do exceptionally better because of the college students. State College to us is more sophisticated than most of the towns (between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.)".

Collins, who worked for Cinemette and has booked films for this area since 1980, said Cinema World's business has been good, and he predicts that the local film businesses will continue to be successful.

"The movies are the cheapest form of entertainment other than staying home," Collins claimed.

Most of the off-campus movies shown are chosen with the hope they will become big commercial money-makers. But last January, the theaters began showing art films on a regular basis because of an increased public demand, Hogan said. And today, these films are often unavailable because they are scarce nationwide, and the companies will send them here only at certain times of the year, he added.

"With art films, the prints are hard to come by because of the limited number on the market," Hogan said, explaining that while the response rate has been good for these critically acclaimed films, Christmas and summer season "hits" are given top priority since they are more profitable.

Prediger said student groups have shown art films for many years, but recently ARHS Cinema's emphasis has been on playing cult films and blockbusters because of recent lagging ticket sales.

"We try to get the biggest films we can," Prediger said.

One "big" film that refuses to go away for both Cinema World and State College is the midnight showings of the perennial cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Hogan said the film, brought back almost every year, began showing again for the Fall Semester, but while sell-outs have been frequent, there is not a guarantee the current contract will be extended.

"It's not exactly our favorite movie because of the condition the theater is left in," he explained, adding that the cost of adding a few employees and paying for damages caused by a rude audience could be a determinant in canceling the film. Currently about 30 employees work at the eight screens in town, Hogan said.

ARHS Cinemas and the Undergraduate Student Government used to feature pornographic films, but no longer do. Downtown theaters also do not show pornographic movies.

Collins said Cinema World, after one full year in the area, is pleased with the community's response to the State College theaters -- considered an important division of the company.

"State College (residents) usually gives a good indication of whether a film is popular nationally," he added.