Showbiz Today

'Franchise Films' Score Big at Box Office; Bruce Willis Pairs Again With Pint-Sized Co-Star; Carmen Electra Talks About 'Scary Movie'

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CO-HOST: Hello, everyone, I'm Paul Vercammen in Los Angeles. Laurin Sydney is in New York.

It seems like Mike Myers is losing friends in Hollywood. Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are joining Universal Pictures in filing a lawsuit against Myers. The producers are suing for $30 million after Myers dropped out of a "Dieter," a movie. This is based on a character Myers created for "Saturday Night Live." The suit accuses the actor of, quote, "selfish, egomaniacal, and irresponsible conduct" -- end quote. Myers told executives he didn't like the "Dieter" script.

LAURIN SYDNEY, CO-HOST: Even without the "Dieter" movie, Mike Myers already has a franchise to brag about with "Austin Powers." And now Warner Bros. is getting ready kick off a franchise of its own, starring the famous young Harry Potter. Harry will join musclemen like the Terminator and Indiana Jones, who know how to flex again and again and again at the box office.

Sherri Sylvester has the scoop.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "TERMINATOR")

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, ACTOR: I'll be back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHWARZENEGGER: The key thing is that you do projects, that you do films that the entire world likes.

SHERRI SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The secret of Arnold Schwarzenegger's success is one Hollywood has known all along, but which films will the entire world like? Well, they liked "The Terminator" and "Terminator 2: Judgment Day." The sequel grossed half a billion dollars. News that the action star has signed on for a "T3" keeps the franchise alive.

DAVID HOCHMAN, "EW": Franchise films and sequels are important because it's a sure thing, if ever there is a sure thing in Hollywood. PAUL DERGARABEDIAN, EXHIBITOR RELATIONS: A "Terminator 3" is on everybody's list as one that they were hoping to see a sequel for. "Indiana Jones 4," again, another film that people are already excited for.

SYLVESTER: It has been more than a decade since the third installment of "Indiana Jones," but a fourth may move to the front burner. There are reports that Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas want "Sixth Sense" creator M. Night Shyamalan to write the script.

A sequel to "Shaft" is already in the works. The dinosaurs are returning to "Jurassic Park." The writer of "American Pie" is cooking up another story. "Crocodile Dundee 3" is a done deal. And Sharon Stone is getting more than her usual paycheck to make "Basic Instinct 2." Since the original grossed $400 million, making "Basic" a brand name is considered good business.

DERGARABEDIAN: People want to revisit those characters and themes that excited them so much in the beginning, and there's been a new trend in that sequels have been recently earning more than the originals.

SYLVESTER: "M:I-2" opened higher than the first "Mission," so did the second "Austin Powers." If that holds true, the upcoming "Nutty Professor 2" could become an Eddie Murphy franchise. Multiple episodes of "Die Hard" and "Lethal Weapon" boosted the fortunes of the studios and stars behind them, but encores of those films seem unlikely at this point.

MEL GIBSON, ACTOR: I don't think you could do "Lethal Weapon 5," I really don't.

BRUCE WILLIS, ACTOR: There's some talk about maybe doing the prequel. That would be interesting, maybe, if I don't get too old to be able to do that.

SYLVESTER: The films of James Bond and "Star Wars" are multibillion-dollar earners, and the success of "The Matrix" brought an order for back-to-back sequels.

(on camera): Also in the works, the Green Hornet has gotten a green light, Spider-Man is a hot property and Harry Potter's franchise potential seems unlimited.

Sherri Sylvester, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Last year when Bruce Willis teamed up with youngster Haley Joel Osment in "The Sixth Sense," the results were worthy of several Oscar nominations. This weekend, Willis is back at it again, pairing with a pint-sized co-star in the new comedy, "Disney's The Kid."

Our grown-up dueling movie critics, Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" and Lisa Schwarzbaum of "Entertainment Weekly," offer their sixth sense on whether this kid was a big mistake or a small wonder.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LISA SCHWARZBAUM, "EW": Peter we're here at FAO Schwarz. We're surrounded by kids, which is probably the place to talk about.

PETER TRAVERS, "ROLLING STONE": I feel 8 years old, Lisa.

SCHWARZBAUM: We're about to talk about "Disney's The Kid," A very kind of clunkily named movie. But actually it is about a grown- up kid. This is played by Bruce Willis. He is actually a very grumpy man, about to turn 40 years old. He's an image consultant. What he does is tell people how to look better than they really are.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "DISNEY'S THE KID")

WILLIS: If you get called a jerk four times in the same day, does that make it true?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: What? Only four? Did you get up late?

WILLIS: There is nothing wrong with me.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Take your phone off. You're with a human now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHWARZBAUM: And what's funny is, when he was a child, he was actually a sad and unhappy little child, and he has no wife, he has no dog in his house, but one day into his life comes the manifestation of his 8-year-old self, a fat, unhappy version of himself played by a very cute kid named Spencer Breslin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "DISNEY'S THE KID")

SPENCER BRESLIN, ACTOR: How did you know my name?

WILLIS: Mother's name is Gloria. Your father's name is Sam.

BRESLIN: How do you know all of that?

WILLIS: Your sister's name is Joanne.

BRESLIN: Everybody calls her "Josie."

WILLIS: Josie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHWARZBAUM: And this kid is as unhappy with seeing himself grown up as Bruce Willis is to see his old self. So what this is, is a kind of time travel of its own. Now I've got to say, beside the fact that "Disney" is in the title in order to make kids know that they like it, there's something rather charming and smart hidden in this movie. It's really kind of adorable. TRAVERS: I thought what was charming was too hidden. I thought the director, Jon Turteltaub, who did "Phenomenon," is always making lightning flashes, and then the sentimentality creeps in, and it becomes so greeting card to me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "DISNEY'S THE KID")

WILLIS: Doesn't the fact that I'm a pathetic dweeb make you despise me?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: No. Why? Do you despise you?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TRAVERS: I thought Bruce Willis was doing Tom Hanks in the "Big" number, and that it wasn't. He's usually great for summer. He had that "Armageddon" movie that the world liked, and I didn't, and of course the "Sixth Sense," but this didn't work for me.

WILLIS: I think he really works really nicely with children. Maybe it's because he's a father himself. He never plays down to kids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "DISNEY'S THE KID")

WILLIS: The good news is that while you are currently a pathetic dweeb. Eventually, you grow up to be me, a high-powered, affluent, chick magnet.

BRESLIN: Who doesn't have a dog or a chick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHWARZBAUM: We're really disagreeing on this, because I was surprised actually at how well it worked, really this young kid, Spencer Breslin. I don't know, maybe he's going to grow up to be Mason Reese and we're going to be unhappy with him. But right now, he's a charming, natural kid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "DISNEY'S THE KID")

BRESLIN: When do I get a hickey?

WILLIS: When you're 17.

BRESLIN: When do I find out what a hickey is?

WILLIS: Not tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHWARZBAUM: It's pretty funny. I think you'll be charmed.

I'm Lisa Schwarzbaum.

TRAVERS: Well, when I look at this, I see Disney people. And I'm Peter Travers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Former "Baywatch" babe Carmen Electra in a "Scary Movie," and following in former castmate Pamela Anderson's high-heeled shoes on TV.

And a Hollywood voice-over legend gets her star in Hollywood.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VERCAMMEN: She started as host of MTV's "Singled Out." Now it's easy to single her out of any crowd. Carmen Electra's once again electrifying the screen, this time in "Scary Movie." And she joins us now to talk about her rather sexy, rather than scary part.

Carmen, what did you say to the Wayans's brothers when they said to you, OK, we want to you run around in next to nothing.

CARMEN ELECTRA, ACTRESS: It was no problem for me. Actually, you know, I read the script, and I thought the script was so funny. And when I knew that Keenan was directing it, he's the king of spoofing thing, he's so good at doing that. And I thought, what a great opportunity to show people that I really do have a good sense of humor and that I'm really willing to make fun of myself.

And, you know, I'm kind of like that when I'm with the girls. When I'm hanging out with my girlfriends, I'm silly and fun. And I just -- the movie's hilarious.

And as far as wearing, like, you know, in the scene where I'm wearing, basically a G-string and a bra, you know, I was in "Playboy" and I've never been afraid of my sexuality. I'm a dancer. I've been dancing since I was 5 years old, so I'm used to wearing a leotard and tights. So to me, that was not a big deal.

But it was really cold. We shot in Canada, and the scene that you're talking about, I'm running. And the killer rips off my skirt, rips off my sweater, I'm in my bra and panties. The water sprinklers comes on, the next thing you know I'm soaking wet and I start working the camera. So I was freezing. I'm wet and cold in the middle of Canada. But it was well worth it because it was a lot of fun.

VERCAMMEN: We're glad to see that you survived that, but some people are saying, by the way, that you pushed the envelope so much in this movie that it should have been given an NC-17 rating and it wasn't. Did you go too far at times in this, do you think?

ELECTRA: Oh, yes. We went so far in this movie that, you know, I think people from Miramax actually said, you know what? We're going to have to tone it down a little bit. We really, really pushed the envelope. And, you know, it's almost like the movie's kind of like a guilty pleasure. You know, you're watching the movie going, oh, my god. Am I really laughing at that? I mean, it's really -- I almost call it, like, it's disgustingly hilarious. It really is. VERCAMMEN: And while we have you here, and quickly, I know you maintain a friendship, although the marriage didn't work out, with Dennis Rodman.

ELECTRA: That's right. We're really good friends now. You know, I went through a really hard time in my life. I lost my mother to cancer and I lost my sister within one week of my mother. And I just became really numb. I put up this wall and I didn't want to feel the loss of her because I just thought that if I did I would break down. I couldn't handle it. And during that time I met Dennis, and Dennis was there for me. And so I really felt this really strong connection with him.

And we did. We fell in love. You know, and I really felt like when he asked me to marry him that, oh, my god, we're going to have a family. And now that my mom is gone, it was a great opportunity to have a family. And everything just got really crazy and it just didn't work out.

But now, now that I've been able to step back from everything and really spend time alone and start to heal and feel the loss of my mother, things are getting so much better. And I'm excited about this movie. And now I'm friends with Dennis, and there's no pressure and we get along much better that way.

VERCAMMEN: Well good luck to you with "Scary Movie."

ELECTRA: Thank you so much.

VERCAMMEN: And thanks you so much for swinging by, Carmen Electra.

ELECTRA: OK.

VERCAMMEN: And now we're going to swing on over to Laurin Sydney in New York.

SYDNEY: OK, the veteran cartoon voice June Foray is swinging on a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Best known as the voice behind classics like Rocky the Flying Squirrel in "Rocky and Bullwinkle," Foray got the 2,167th star on the legendary strip.

Meanwhile, Rocky and his moose pal are on the big screen, and Bill Tush talked with the two folks who give them their unmistakable sound.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL TUSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Why is the grownup woman making such silly sounds? Because she is the voice of Rocky the Flying Squirrel, that's why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE")

JUNE FORAY, VOICE OF ROCKY THE FLYING SQUIRREL: Hoky Smokes, what do you suppose it means? (END VIDEO CLIP)

TUSH: Forty years ago, animator Jay Ward hired June Foray to give a sound to his cartoon creation.

FORAY: Jay said that he wanted just a plain, all-American boy, a Boy Scout. Well, I made him a little more contentious, you know, dropped the Gs and sort of developed the character.

TUSH: The original voice for Rocky's devoted pal, Bullwinkle, has passed on to cartoon heaven. That's when Keith Scott stepped in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "THE ADVENTURES OF ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE")

KEITH SCOTT, VOICE OF BULLWINKLE: There's something in your eye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUSH: From the time he was little boy in his native Australia, Scott was doing moose.

SCOTT: "Rocky and Bullwinkle" just hit me from a very early age as so ahead of the competition. All the other cartoons were cats chasing mice, and here was this moose and squirrel talking about Congress and the Cold War and television and making jokes about what a lousy little show we're in.

TUSH: Now Rocky and Bullwinkle have gone from their humble beginnings of low-budget TV animation to the big screen, complete with expensive, state-of-the-art computer-generated stuff. But some things never change.

SCOTT: And that's the way it should be. We're really happy with the results.

FORAY: Bullwinkle is just as much a nut with an IQ of what, 65?

SCOTT: You're flattering me.

FORAY: Unless he had on the Kerwood Derby on.

SCOTT: Yes, yes.

FORAY: Then he got smart.

SCOTT: Then he was the smartest moose in the world for a good two seconds.

TUSH: In the film version of "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle," their infamous foes become live characters, while our good guys remain animated.

In the TV series, June Foray also did the voice of Natasha. Now it's up to Rene Russo, who was a bit intimidated when she first tried out for the movie's director. RENE RUSSO, ACTRESS: I had done a Polish accent before, so I faked him out and used a Polish accent on him, figuring that he wouldn't know the difference. And he bought it, so...

TUSH: So wait, Natasha has a Polish accent?

RUSSO: No, no, she has Transylvanian accent. I did get it down eventually, but I fooled him.

TUSH: While Russo was holding her own with one voice, Foray and Scott have mastered many.

FORAY: I was Daffy Duck's wife.

SCOTT: Elmer Fudd's wife.

FORAY: Elmer Fudd's wife. And, gosh I did so many characters I can't remember them all.

TUSH: Bill Tush, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Many baby boomers were kids when Beatlemania took over the world in the '60s. Well hold your breath, boomers. Today is drummer Ringo Starr's 60th birthday. He is the first Beatle to reach that landmark, and we hope that he celebrates with a little help from his friends.

Also celebrating birthdays with Ringo this weekend are fellow musician and actress Courtney Love, who turns 36; Kevin Bacon, soon to be not seen in "The Hollow Man" is 42; and Oscar multi-winner Tom Hanks is 44.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "AMERICAN BEAUTY")

ANNETTE BENING, ACTRESS: We really enjoyed that.

KEVIN SPACEY, ACTOR: Congratulations, honey, you were great.

THORA BIRCH, ACTRESS: I didn't win anything.

SPACEY: Hi, I'm Lester, Janey's dad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: Will "American Beauty" get swallowed up by "Jaws" when the shark thriller hits the DVD shelf? The new 25th anniversary edition of "Jaws" is being released, and it promises to give viewers something to sink their teeth into. Its one of the latest special edition DVDs giving producers a chance to do what they didn't do the first time around.

Dennis Michael takes a bite out of this story. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DENNIS MICHAEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There may have been a perfectly good reason to cut this scene from "My Dog Skip," but the film's director has a perfectly good reason to put it on the special version of the DVD home video release.

JAY RUSSELL, DIRECTOR: It took the prop master a half a day to rig this thing up to get the tube to go up the dog's leg, and I just couldn't let his good work go unseen.

MICHAEL: Materials seen in special edition DVDs, deleted scenes, production footage, even alternate audio narration, is not new. They were part of what made the old laser video format so appealing. But now that millions of DVD players are in use in the United States, they're going from a specialty audience to mainstream.

Dean Devlin produced "Independence Day," which is just now getting a special DVD version.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A miniature fire engine, which was, I guess, bought at Toys R Us.

DEAN DEVLIN, PRODUCER, "INDEPENDENCE DAY: We have something like 9 1/2 minutes of extra footage, and you know, that was on the cutting room floor that we get to now give new life to. There's behind-the- scenes stuff. There's commentary. And we even got to include an online multiplayer game that we've been developing.

So it really has a lot of extra stuff to it, and I think this movie in particular is really the kind of movie you want for your DVD.

MICHAEL: With the additional features available on Digital Video Disc, some of the childlike joys inherent in film-making can be taken home.

DEVLIN: One of our showcase pieces is going to be the White House, and we're building that at 12th scale, which is over 14-feet wide, and we're going to blow it up.

MICHAEL: In other cases, films that have a stellar history can be given important technical updates, like the "Jaws" 25th anniversary edition.

COLLEEN BENN, UNIVERSAL STUDIOS HOME VIDEO: The original film was released in mono, so it never really had the same impact that this is going to have for the viewer at home. It's going to be all surrounding them. So when the shark attacks, it's an all-surrounding attack.

MICHAEL: "Independence Day" and "Fight Club" have massive supporting materials. Re-releases of the James Bond series are packed with previously top-secret data. Special editions of "The Sound of Music," "Men in Black," and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" are among the dozens of films getting the special DVD treatment in the near future. You probably won't see a special edition of, say, "Battlefield Earth," but a special edition of something like "Jaws" is almost inevitable.

BENN: Everybody's going to carry this title. Everybody has to have it. It's one of those titles.

MICHAEL: And as DVD grows in popularity, the home video fan can take more of the movie home than he can get at the movies.

Dennis Michael, CNN Entertainment News, Hollywood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: Next week on SHOWBIZ, Patrick Stewart leads a band of superheroes in the big-screen version of "X-Men," and the provocative Lil' Kim steams up the charts with her new album.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SYDNEY: Michal says the "Freak Hallway" is where she used to hang out in high school. Two years after graduation, she has got a record deal to show the popular kids how wrong they were. The 19- year-old wrote all of the music on her debut album.

Rachel Wells went with Michal back to her old New York City high school for a trip down memory lane.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAL, MUSICIAN: Michal.

RACHEL WELLS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Michal.

MICHAL: You've got to get that "ch" in it.

I get a lot of Michelle and Michael and Mickal, you know, any variation thereof.

(MUSIC)

The record's called "Sky With Stars."

WELLS: You look at the cover, and you're a blonde, one-name girl. How do you differentiate yourself, you know, being another pretty, one-name, young girl singing?

MICHAL: I wrote all the songs on the record and I play an instrument, you know. So just in terms of that, I would like to be thought of as a songwriter and as a musician, and not just as a performer.

WELLS: We came back to...

MICHAL: This is Hunter College High School. I graduated in '98.

Let's see, I spent six years in this school. So eight years...

WELLS: Wait. Six years in high school?

MICHAL: Well, you start in seventh grade.

WELLS: Oh, OK.

MICHAL: I wasn't held back or anything.

I didn't really fit in with the kids here, but like I had my group of friends and we used to hang out in the freak hallway.

This is where everybody went to make out. This is the freak hallway.

I played in the band, I played in the orchestra, I played in various chamber groups. And I tried to get into jazz chorus. They told me I couldn't sing.

(singing): Sometimes the Earth moves so swiftly and I am a stone

WELLS: You began studying piano first?

MICHAL: Yes, when I was 6 years old. And I originally wanted to be a classical pianist, because I just fell in love with the instrument.

This is a Chopin nocturne in C-sharp minor.

(MUSIC)

I loved it. I didn't think I would have the discipline to do it professionally, because you have to devote a lot of your life to it.

WELLS: The debut single's going to be...

MICHAL: "Juliet's Refrain." You know, I never had a problem with practicing. I always loved, you know, the piano. But I mean, rock music, it's just a completely different thing. There's just so much freedom in it, and the energy is just completely different, you know. Like who wouldn't want to be a rock star, you know?

WELLS (voice-over): Rachel Wells, CNN Entertainment News, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SYDNEY: And it is time for us to rock on out of here. We sure hope to see you next time. Until then in New York, I'm Laurin Sydney.

Bye, Paul.

VERCAMMEN: And in Hollywood, I'm Paul Vercammen. Bye, Laurin.

As you said, we've got to get out of here now, but birthday boy himself Ringo Starr will help us say goodbye. And we'll see you next time.

(MUSIC)

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