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American Morning

'Spiderman' Breaks Records, But 'Star Wars' Is On Its Way

Aired May 06, 2002 - 07:49   ET

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

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: "Spider-Man," the comic book superhero, springing into action over the weekend, and busting up all of the existing box office records, the movie in its first three days grossing an amazing $114 million, easily beating the previous record over, which was AOL Time Warner's "Harry Potter."

And while "Spider-Man" may have swung his way into the history books, he could soon be crushed by the Force. That would be the Force of the "Star Wars" franchise, George Lucas about to unleash his eagerly anticipated next installment of the "Star Wars" saga, "Episode II: Attack of the Kleins -- Clones."

CNN's Jedi warrior Anderson Cooper has seen a preview of the film. He was at George Lucas' ranch, and he joins us now from a galaxy not all that far away after all -- good morning. Is this thing any good?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is. The buzz on this movie, I've got to tell you, is just extraordinary. "Attack of the Kleins" is actually a whole different film involving...

CAFFERTY: Oh, I was confused. Yes.

COOPER: ... Calvin Klein, but...

CAFFERTY: They have all of these sequels and stuff, you know, those series of movies, I got them mixed up -- sorry about that.

COOPER: That's right.

CAFFERTY: You were at George Lucas' ranch?

COOPER: Yes, well you know, I like to hobnob with the in-crowd.

CAFFERTY: Man!

COOPER: Yes. I don't know what I was doing there. I was invited on this press junket basically. I got to see the movie Saturday night. I was at the Star Wars convention on Friday. And I've got to tell you, this movie is going to be huge. The buzz on this thing is just great, both from the TV industry people who were there, which was a pretty jaded crowd, if I might say.

And die-hard fans are really buzzed about this. They are really excited. You know, they have been following the story on the Internet. They know everything that's in this move, and they really are excited that it sort of recaptures the magic of the "Star Wars" trilogy.

CAFFERTY: You know, Anderson, there is a piece on the front page of "The Wall Street Journal" this morning talking about "Spider-Man," for example, grossing $114 million. But what they don't tell you up front is the studio also spent some $50 million to market this thing. So the investment in marketing and selling the thing ahead of release is almost as big as the budget for movie itself.

COOPER: Yes. And I've got to tell you, in two weeks when "Star Wars Episode II" opens up, it's going to be Spider-Man, schmider-man (ph).

CAFFERTY: Really?

COOPER: The money they are pouring into marketing "Star Wars" is just going to be huge. It's opening world-wide. And I think it's going to blow "Spider-Man" out of the galaxy, if you will.

CAFFERTY: Is anybody talking about what the ceiling on a three- day weekend gross might be? How high is up?

COOPER: I don't think anyone knows. I mean, at this point, you know, the sky is the limit, and no one could have predicted, you know, a "Spider-Man" opening so big. And "Star Wars," you know, it's a franchise which is beloved by millions of people around the world, and I think the sky is the limit.

CAFFERTY: Now, what have they done with Yoda? I read where he is fully computer animated for the first time.

COOPER: Yes. It's pretty remarkable. I was actually kind of wary about this. Yoda before was a puppet operated by a man by the name of Frank Oz. It still using Frank Oz's voice, so you still get the same, you know, Yoda voice.

But Yoda is fully digitally animated. So you actually see a whole new kind of Yoda. It's a little younger Yoda, and it's a Yoda that is quite a sword fighter. I don't know if we actually have video of that. I don't think they are releasing that stuff yet, because that is definitely the highlight of the film. Seeing Yoda without the little mini light saver he has and go to work is without a doubt the highlight of the film. People are laughing, cheering in the crowd I saw.

CAFFERTY: And Yoda is definitely cool. One of the possible reasons, I suppose, for the success of these "Star Wars" movies, is they have resisted until now that ever-present Hollywood temptation to go for the love story. I understand they have one in this one, right?

COOPER: There is a love story on this, and I think it will be a huge part of the appeal. You know, it's kind of almost like "Titanic." It's -- you know, I think "Star Wars" has traditionally appealed to, you know, young boys. It's got, you know, amazing action sequences. This episode, "Episode II: Attack of the Clones" has action sequences, which, you know, surpass anything any of the other "Star Wars" movies has.

But a love story is key, and the story is key. The characters are really developed in this. And the main part is that we really -- a lot of the loose ends -- you know, George Lucas has always spun a very intricate web with this story. He is really tying up a lot of the loose strands of the web. This story is really the No. 1 thing in this episode.

CAFFERTY: All right, partner. I guess we'll talk to you a bit later here on AMERICAN MORNING, and then, you know, safe trip home.

COOPER: OK.

CAFFERTY: We'll check you out back in New York in a day or two.

COOPER: All right.

CAFFERTY: Anderson Cooper from San Francisco.

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