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CNN Live At Daybreak

'Clones' Finally Land in Hollywood

Aired May 16, 2002 - 06:37   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We turn our attention to entertainment now, and the latest "Star Wars" movie. Yes, the clones have finally landed.

Our Eric Horng is at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood -- good morning. Is there a showing there, I presume?

ERIC HORNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, who needs sleep when it comes to the most anticipated film of the year, right? You know, at this hour, the 3:30 a.m. Pacific Time screening is going on right now, and it's the second screening of the day.

COSTELLO: You are kidding!

HORNG: No, they had a midnight screening. They got out about an hour ago. We spoke to some of the folks who came out of that, and reviews were generally positive. People said that they really like the special effects. They thought the scene with Yoda, who is completely computer-generated in the film, was pretty amazing, and they actually said there was a standing ovation at the end of that screening.

COSTELLO: You've got to be kidding! So this may be "Spider-Man" after all. I didn't think anything could beat that at the box office as far as receipts go.

HORNG: Well, it's certainly, you know, popular enough to beat it, but the question is, you know, are there enough screens? Are there enough screens across the country that are showing this film? "Spider-Man" I think debuted in something like 7,500 screens across the country; this one at about 6,000.

But an interesting stat. Did you know back in 1977, the original "Star Wars" film only debuted on 32 screens nationwide?

COSTELLO: Oh, gee, that sounds so old-fashioned now, doesn't it? Hey, I understand we have a clip of the new movie, so we want to watch that just to give people a taste who haven't seen it yet.

HORNG: OK.

(BEGIN MOVIE CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Out there (ph), the increasing threats of the separatists.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) full scale.

(END MOVIE CLIP)

COSTELLO: Wow! It looks like a pretty cool movie, Eric. I wanted to ask you about this. A lot of people are expected to play hooky from work today. In fact, a Chicago outplacement firm estimates that the midweek debut of the latest in the "Star Wars" thing will cost nearly $320 million in lost productivity and absenteeism today; the hardest hit city, Tech City. Surprise you?

HORNG: You know, a lot of people, you know, have been camping out for weeks and missing work, so I mean this is really nothing surprising. That firm that you talked about, that employment firm estimates something like 2.6 million people are going to play hooky from work today.

I'm not one of them. You're not one of them, obviously, but a lot of people camping out, missing work and then also just calling in today and waiting in line.

COSTELLO: Yes. But did you see the first showing of the movie?

HORNG: I'm sorry, Carol?

COSTELLO: Did you see the movie?

HORNG: You know, I have not seen the film yet. You know, even a tough ticket for the media, but I'm just going to have to wait in line myself.

COSTELLO: OK. Thank you -- Eric Horng reporting live for us from Hollywood, California this morning -- we thank you.

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