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American Morning
Vin Diesel-Powered Action Thriller Debuts at Number One
Aired August 12, 2002 - 09:54 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: The Vin Diesel-powered action thriller "XXX" debuted this weekend at number one. We're talking about $46 million. It was followed by last week's top film, "Signs," "Spy Kids 2," "Goldmember," and Clint Eastwood's "Blood Work," rounding out the top five.
Joining us now with a closer look at the X factor and other movie news, Dave Karger from "Entertainment Weekly."
Nice to see you again, Dave.
DAVE KARGER, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": Thank a lot.
NEVILLE: Well, you know, I have got to tell you something, I have not seen "XXX," read about it, seen trailers, critics hated it; apparently moviegoers love it. What is about Vin Diesel that make people just want to keep going to the movies to see him?
KARGER: He's being touted as kind of the new breed, the new generation of action heroes, replacing people like Stallone and Schwarzenegger, who, we should make clear, their last movies made like 12 million or 15 million their opening weekend. So Vin Diesel has tripled these numbers.
I think what happened is he's just a younger, more beefy, more buff, tough talking, hip and edgy kind of action hero, and this movie is rated PG-13, so all of the 11, 12 and 13-year-old boys, who, by the way, don't care about what critics think about these movies, they all went and saw this -- $46 million later, here we are.
NEVILLE: And then they are talking about a lot of product placement in this movie. Now, again, I understand that Vin wears Vans, gator sneakers, and that he talks a lot about Playstation, talk about 13-year-olds loving this.
KARGER: It is a Sony movie, and Playstation is Sony, but look, these movie companies need to find creative ways to help pay for these movies, because these movies are getting more and more expensive as audiences demand more and more special effects. So when you have a budget that's $60, $70, $80 million, you've got to, you know, get those product placements in.
NEVILLE: And actors demanding bigger paychecks of course.
KARGER: Vin Diesel now making 20 million. It's interesting, because it was kind of this vicious cycle. His salary went up, because people thought his movies were going to do well. People thought his movies were going to do well, so his salary went up, but no movies had come out. He had "The Fast and the Furious," which last summer made $40 million in its opening weekend, but that was more of an ensemble. This is the first time he's carried a movie by himself. And he's proven he can bring the money in.
NEVILLE: Good for him.
Let's move on now to "Spy Kids II: The Island of Lost Dreams," came in third. Now they just did the first movie what about a little bit more than year a half ago.
KARGER: Yes, a year and a half ago.
NEVILLE: A quick turn around. Now is that because this is a movie that parents and kids can see this?
KARGER: That's exactly why these "Spy Kids" movies have been kind of popular, because they are a smarter kind of family movie. It's the kind of movie that the parents can take their kids, too, but also find some humor for themselves.
But what's interesting here is "Spy Kids II" didn't do as well in the opening weekend as "Spy Kids I." This is rare. Usually sequels have bigger opening weekend than the movies that came before. But this summer, you've seen this mini trend of sequels doing worse than the opening weekends of the movies that came before, "Men in Black," "Stuart Little" and now "Spy Kids." All three of those movies sold fewer tickets in the opening weekend for the sequel than they did for the original. I almost think that there's almost too many sequels being made.
NEVILLE: That's a good thing; that will save us from too many sequels. Give me something new, something fresh.
KARGER: I think that in order for a movie to demand, it really has to be an out-and-out blockbuster, not just a movie that makes $100 million and automatically make a sequel. It's not a good idea.
NEVILLE: Really quickly, want to talk about Clint Eastwood in "Blood Work," $7.2 million, not a huge opening at all. People getting tired of seeing Clint Eastwood in the crime-solving role?
KARGER: Yes, I just the think the thing with this movie is that there's nothing original about it. He plays an FBI agent, who's been retired and comes back out to track a serial killer. There's nothing new about that. His last movie "Space Cowboys," with Tommy Lee Jones, a comedy about old men in space, it had something more original to it.
Although "Blood Work" did do better than Clint Eastwood's last crime movie, "True Crime," which only made five million. So, hey, this is almost a step up for him.
NEVILLE: And finally, Charlton Heston made the announcement that he has signs of Alzheimer's. He's got to be fully respected, I would imagine, by Hollywood. KARGER: He is in some circles, although I guess Rosie O'Donnell would say otherwise. Remember, she's been very vocal against gun use, and that of course is what Charlton Heston is very involved in, in his activism.
But I think that Charlton Heston handled this very well. I think he chose a good way to do it, a taped message, and to show that he, you know, played a hero on screen, but he's a mere mortal.
KARGER: He's a human being like the rest of us.
ZAHN: Dave Karger, Nice to see you, "Entertainment Weekly."
KARGER: Sure.
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